Plant Sale Reviews

In the past couple of weeks I have been to two plants sales. Nothing against large suppliers (they can have great prices on common plants and one-year guarantees from Lowe's and Home Hardware are great), but there is something I like about supporting local horticultural groups.
The Friend's of Garden's Manitoba annual Mother's Day sale was last weekend. I had such success at the fall sale that I was very eager for this one but it was not nearly the same success for me.
My best deals were the three large white Bleeding Hearts for $10 each that my brother and sister in-law got us to commemorate the passing of one of our dogs the other week.  A great idea. I will not dwell on Gus' passing here but  if you would like to read an obit my husband wrote for him you can do so here. Be warned you may want tissues near.Other purchases at the Friends' sale include:- 1 sedum for the Alpine Garden ($6)- White Monkshood for the Moon Garden ($6)- 3 delightful Orange Iris for the South Lasagna Garden (SLG) ($6/each)- 2 Honeyberry bushes to add some structure to the SLG ($14/each)- 2 Maltese Cross ($3/each) which I believe are red for the SLG- Sea Holly ($3) adding to the blues in the Front Lasagna garden (FLG)I found their fall sale to be better last year because there were many more divisions from members and racks and racks of plants started from seed for the sale, both leading to rock bottom prices when I was looking to buy a lot of plants. 
The City of Winnipeg Living Prairie Museum native plant sale was held this weekend and I was there straightaway after work on Friday to get my hands on some native flowers. Prices were good at $3/plant compared to the $6 price tag for most perennials at the Friends' Mother's Day sale.
Their plants were grown in a greenhouse, so like the seeds I have started indoors they will require a period of hardening off before planting.
Native Wildflowers I bought in support of this important living museum include:
- 3 wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), red and yellow for the south lasagna garden
- 3 blue columbine, (likely Colorado Columbine but we will have to wait and see), for the FLG
- 5 New England Asters (Aster novae-angliae) for the FLG
- 3 Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia) also for the FLG
- 1 packet of Ground Plum seeds for the Alpine Garden 
- 1 packet Blue Eyed Grass (actually an Iris) for the FLG, to be sown in the fall 

And the winner is...

Both sales were well run and the people very friendly. Friends of Garden's Manitoba was much larger with much more variety including annuals, shrubs and even some veggies, but with my goal of creating a certified butterfly wayside the native plants and their prices make the LivingPrairie Museum sale the winner. 
At least for this year. 
And the great news is that the sale continues on Sundays through June, so what  are you waiting for? get off your tush and buy some native plants!