Distressed Plants - $1000 worth

Just take that title in.  Are you shocked, or wondering if we've lost our mind?

I'm sure there is someone out there thinking "didn't she say they are paying off debt and being frugal and whatever?".

Yes, yes we are.

Ok I won't keep you in suspense anymore.  Yes we got $1000 worth of plants this weekend, from Lowe's.

On Saturday morning we dropped off Jasmine at work, and then stopped at Aldi for some bread and milk.  On the way home I suggested to my husband, that we stop at Lowe's just to look around.  We didn't have anything specific we were looking for, or wanted, it was just supposed to be a browse around as we both love Lowe's and Home Depot.

While in the garden area we came upon a huge area filled with distressed plants.  Some were $5 and some were $1.  Most looked about dead, some looked in distress and others were doing ok but definitely needing some love and attention.

So we grabbed a few of the dollar ones, I wasn't sure if I would be able to save them, but I felt so bad leaving them there all brown and dying.

As I was grabbing some, one of the Lowe's workers came up to me and said that they need to get rid of all the distressed plants by Monday, so if I was interested, I could fill up one of the blue garden carts and they would give it to me for a cheap price.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money, because we ARE being careful with our budget, and I guess she saw in my face that I wasn't sure about it, so she quickly added that if I filled the blue cart, they would charge me 10 dollars.

10 DOLLARS!!!!!

I called Curt over and we immediately filled a cart.  Again, we were not sure what we would be able to save, but if all else failed we could re use the pots and the soil.

Let me show you what we got on Saturday......

Tons of succulents.  I know that succulents are thought of as hardy and easy plants to grow but they do require some attention too.  Contrary to what you may believe, you can't just leave them out in direct sunlight and forget about them, they WILL die.  But that is exactly where these poor plants had been, in the Texas heat, triple digits and clearly not getting the attention they needed.

I found a huge fern, and I've wanted one for a really long time so brought it home.  It is a Boston Fern in case you're wondering.

We got 3 of the Turk's Caps which are by far one of my favorite plants ever.  How gorgeous is it?

Got 5 or 6 of the Polka Dot Plant which is just the most beautiful thing ever, especially since my favorite color is pink.  These will go indoors.

Another gorgeous one.  The Dragon Wing Begonia, and I wish they had more of this one, but this was the last and we snatched it up real quick.

 

Some of the succulents which I'm going to try very hard to save.  All in all I think we got 30 different succulents in all stages of life.

 

We got a lot and I mean a LOT of plants.  We went back today to see if they were all gone and they still had a ton left which they were very happy to part with, for another $10, so we filled another blue cart.

They do ring up the transactions just for inventory purposes, but the first transaction from Saturday was $480 and the one from Sunday was $600 as we picked up mostly hanging baskets.

Friends, I have 20 hanging basket plants that will be placed out on the patio, in the front porch and indoors too.  I am so incredibly happy right now and feeling blessed beyond belief.

These little ones are some of the most distressed succulents we picked up, but I'm hoping with some love they will perk right up.

Just to update you, we brought all the plants home and placed them on my back patio as we have a lot of shade.  I pushed our outside table up against the corner and Curt also put up a temporary table of sorts.

The plants that are full sun are in the front, and the shade and most distressed ones in the back and under the table .  They were given miracle gro and a good watering, once in the morning and again late afternoon.

By this morning, they had all perked up, new blooms were awakening, bright colorful flowers danced in the sunlight, leaves were all perky and no longer droopy, the succulents had straightened up and their colors seemed deeper, prettier.

Again they all got a good watering, some pruning, some were moved to new pots, the succulents were moved to longer rectangle planters, also pruned and dropped leaves placed gently on the soil to encourage new growth.

For now, they will remain on the patio for at least one more day, then Tuesday I will start planning where everything is going and start hanging, re-potting, planting in the front and back yard and so on.

I will let you know how it's all going.

We had no idea that Lowe's did this, and they told us that usually around the 4th of July they have a big tree sale, some of the most expensive trees down from $80 to $5.  Wish I had known this as we're looking for fruit trees, but we will try next year.

So if you're in the market for some plants and don't mind giving a home to some needy, neglected and distressed plants, be sure to check out your local Lowe's, you may just luck out and get $1000 worth of new plants for just $10.

If you're curious as to all the different plants we got, here is a list.  We got about 4 of each of these:

Begonias
Bronze Leaf Begonia
Dragon Wing Begonia
Succulents
Fuchsia
Society Garlic
Impatiens
Double Impatiens (also known as New Guinea Impatiens)
Vining Mandevilla (one of the worst plants we got, I'm not sure if we can save it, but we will try)
Angelonia
Majesty Palm
Palace Purple Coral Bell
Vinca
Asian Jasmine
Turk's Cap
French Marigold
Polka Dot Plant
Snowcap Plantain Lilly
Blue Salvia
Lipstick Autumn Sage
Mirage Burgundy Autumn Sage
Greek Oregano
Buzz Violet Butterly Bush
Boston Fern
Orchids (10)
Hydrangeas

Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head, but I know for sure that I grabbed another 5 different species.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a little look at our new plants, as I said above, I'll keep taking photos and showing you the progress, if we were able to save them, if they died and how we got on.