Shopping and More Shopping

I might be one of the few women on earth that doesn’t like shopping, but you’re probably not going to believe me when I show you what I’ve purchased in just the last few days. Of course, it’s all garden stuff, so it doesn’t qualify as REAL shopping, right? At least, not the painful kind.

In search of a long-elusive linen press, I went to the Charlotte, North Carolina, Antique Extravaganza on Friday, which is held the first weekend of April and November at the Merchandize Mart. In truth, there is a Trade Show Expo on the first weekend of every month, but the April and November events are the largest. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the piece I was looking for, but I did find a number of interesting garden vendors.

Check out Gypsy Raku on Facebook and Etsy.

First, I saw these terrific moss gardens “One of a Kind Handmade Treasures,” by Brittany and Nate Cline. The tiny houses and mushrooms are available through their Gypsy Raku Shoppe on Etsy. Or, to see more of their fantasy landscapes, visit their Gypsy Raku Facebook page. The email is gypsyraku@gmail.com.

Mount Holly Bonsai–visit the nursery or catch Klaus at a show.

There was also some really cool bonsai by Klaus Schick of Mount Holly Bonsai, including pyracantha and heather. Klaus, who is from Germany, is a regular at markets and shows in this region and he also ships via UPS. Check out his website and contact him at ksbonsai@netzero.net.

This hypertufa with the shells blew me away.

Not an easy decision!

Finally, I absolutely fell in love with Meredith Stroud’s hypertufa planters filled with sedums. The containers were some of the neatest hypertufa’s I’ve ever seen, and although I won’t tell you Meredith’s secrets for making the quirky shapes and textures, I will give you her email address so you can find out where she’ll be next. Contact Homemade Gardens at meredithstroud@carolina.rr.com.

You won’t believe the deals at Daedalus Books & Music!

Once home, I found a package at the door from Daedalus Books. You know about these crazy deals, right? This shipment was a particularly good haul; I’m especially excited about The Essentials of Garden Design by John Brookes (often described as the world’s most influential designer) which cost a paltry $6.28. The total for all 7 books, including postage, was less than $45. Amazing!

Great haul of natives for the woodland garden!

Then, to cap off the spending spree, Tim and I were at the plant sale of the Upstate Chapter of the SC Native Plant Society in plenty of time to rush the gate at opening on Saturday morning. We have a system—I grab and he hauls to the holding area while I grab more. This year, we snagged (bottom, clockwise) a green and gold, 3 Dixie wood ferns, 3 red buckeye, a bigleaf magnolia, a pawpaw, a black haw viburnum, 5 wild geraniums, a mountain mint, 2 more bloodroot (hooray!), and a white wood aster. Sadly, by the time I found the Oconee bells, someone was reaching for the last one. That’s okay, there’s always next year!