I hate this time of year in the nurseries because of that. They don't even get seeds In until after the new year, when they should have gotten them in for the fall. If you wait until the new year to plant seeds here, by the time they're up and blooming, it's almost too late. You'll have a very short bloom season. I have to order all my seeds online. It would be so nice to be able to just go down and buy a packet of seeds when the mood hit.

High margin in cut Christmas trees. Just a fact of retailing. Garden centers have to survive somehow.

We've lost so many nurseries here, I'm glad to have ANY of them left.

Jeri

I was in Walmart tonight and noticed that they didnt have near the number of Christmas trees they have had in the past and I am glad. I hated to see all those poor trees just stacked up there right before Christmas, such a waste. Maybe these will be purchased, used and there wont be huge leftovers this year. I love Christmas but I am already looking forward to seeing the gardening stuff go back on the shelves where Christmas is now....

My house is too small for a tree but flowers are more important at Christmas. I had a large gift token for flowers from my bank as a compensation for a mistake they made. This year I can buy lots of all the traditional Christmas flowers, hyacinths, amaryllis, Christmas roses (to be planted outside later), white orchids, red begonias, tulips, small thujas for the chimneypiece. I can no longer get stiff clubmoss for garlands for the fireplace because it's now protected in Sweden. I ask neighbours and others to have their old Christmas trees. I use the branches for shading roses in March when the sun is strong and the ground is still frozen so the roses can't draw water and dry out.

I get demoralised when the Christmas stuff is in the nursery. I miss having a stroll through the aisles for inspiration. I also miss active gardening. I am relagated to composting and creating new beds.

I miss colour. I purchased a few winter primroses just to give me a bit of colour as my lobelia succumb to the frost.

{{gwi:342757}}

LOVE THE SIGN!!!! ..... Iiiiii'mm dreaming...., of a post-Christmas....where are the bareroots, pause, are in stock.... la la la

I like the evergreen fragrance but I never get a cut tree, only wreaths and garlands. Our neighbor had a tree fire one year that took his home while they were away and burned parts of several other homes. Luckily no pets or people were hurt but after that I decided to go with a fake tree and turn the lights off when I'm away. One year I'm going to have a real tree on the patio with candles just for an evening. I got the little candle clips but never got the tiny candles for it. I believe that the victorians didn't have the tree decorated for a month anyway...just the last few days or for Christmas eve and Christmas day. I do have a Yule log which is fun. I just found out that yule logs are supposed to be the old maypoles which you feed into the fire during yule. My yule log is somebody's old tree that I have cut the branches off. I decorate it up with pinecones and dried flowers tied on with hemp and into the fireplace it goes.

Sometimes it's not so bad when they are making room for trees and bikes at Walmart because they put all the garden soils and fertilizers 60-70% off. I used to be sad when Target got rid of the annuals to make room for trees. Our local nurseries don't have trees because of the competition from Home Depot and other places. A beautiful flocked tree is one of the prettiest decorations in a no-snow climate but I have pets so no flocking for us.
A few years back a magazine featured a home with a grouping of 4 cut trees in 3 corners of the dining room and I loved that look. They were undecorated but it was like having dinner in a forest. I would like to have that but with potted roses as well. My potted roses and ivies have come in for summer parties and people like it.

I know about places like Lowe's and Home Depot, but sometimes a small local nusery will be thrilled to see someone walk in in the winter and have bargains available. One year we went to Garden Valley Ranch years ago when Redell owned it on my birthday Dec. 13th. We were offered 5 gallon roses left over from summer at $5 each. We bought 47 wonderful roses.