VIP Shopping

Ian and I did the trip to Gertens today in pursuit of the VIPs. We headed out in the morning, traveling through bizarro May weather - sun, rain, sleet, snow, wind, and temps in the 40's. No lie, it was freakishly cold and miserable for May. We stopped for gas at the Travel Center south of Inver Grove, and I had to huddle against the car for protection from the wind and the sleetish-hail-snow stuff that was pounding down from the sky.

To some, it may have seemed like a poor day to go garden shopping - outdoor shopping - but for me the weather was a good sign. It meant that Gertens would not be crowded, there would actually be parking, and it would be possible to navigate the aisles. The closer we got the more excited I was. We stopped at my sister's house, and picked up my sister Patti and niece Lisa, piled into Patti's Jeep, and headed over to Gertens.

You may be wondering, of course, just what is a Gertens? How can I describe this? Gertens is gardening mecca. It is a huge nursery located in Inver Grove Heights, approximately five miles from my very-lucky-to-live-so-close sister. They have annual retail in two gigantic greenhouses along with more annuals in front, next to, and behind each greenhouse. Perennials stretch to the horizon, with shrubs beyond that and trees beyond that. Water gardening, outdoor living, commercial sales, landscape-yard, urns, rain barrels, garden ornaments, books, grills, birdhouses... they all have their own special areas and - Bonus! - staff that really know about them. The staff know where things are, they know how to use all the tools, they know how the plants grow, and they actually are gardeners themselves. It's an amazing place. And it's popular. People come from all over to shop at Gertens. They have lots of parking, but it overflows onto the road in front of the store and for half a mile both sides of the street are covered with vehicles.

I kind of love Gertens. I may get there once a year, and it's so large I never get close to seeing it all, but I love to go. There is nothing but nothing even close to being like it in my town.

We arrived about noon, looking forward to having the place to ourselves with the crummy weather. After we navigated the dual sides of parallel parkers, and all the traffic in the parking lot - it was jam-packed of course, we had just been kidding ourselves - we were finally there. I was on my mission for Supertunias, Patti wanted a gift basket, and Lisa and Ian were there because there was a promise of lunch afterwards. We grabbed a cart and started looking.

Petunias were easy to find. They always are, they are so popular that the racks of petunias stretch on for miles. And there are always the Wave Petunias, in their bright pink packs or with obnoxious plastic signs or handles. Waves do not do anything for me in my clay yard. Interestingly, Patti says they do not do anything for her in her sandy yard. The Gertens lady today who was helping us find Supertunias said the Waves do not do anything in her yard either. I have never actually met anyone who thinks Waves work well for them in their yard. Yet every nursery stocks and sells them by the thousands. I think it must be one of the best marketing endeavors ever - package up poorly-performing plants in bolder packaging than good-performing plants and they will sell. And they do sell. I always wonder how many people are disappointed with these posers each year.

Anyway, we finally found the Supertunias. I was disappointed again here in the colors available. I want red, white, and blue, and of those three they only had the blue. Well, dark purple, but gardener's license to call it blue. I bought the blue. They had another variety, a new one, called Ray, and here they had both the red and the white. I debated it over, but the Rays looked good, and my dad was named Ray, so it seemed like a good omen. I bought the red and white. Then I picked up an extra pack of cheapie reds to place in the center of each hanging basket. My main VIPs solved. Risky, trying something new, but solved.

Ian wanted sunflowers, and we wandered through the other annual greenhouse looking for those. They didn't seem to have them already started, so Lisa and Ian picked out seeds and we brought those home. Patti picked out a gorgeous hanging basket, kind of cone-shaped, for her friend, for Mother's Day. Back at the Jeep a nice young man offered to help load the plants and then took the cart away. We noticed three police cars in the parking lots as we exited, after stopping to visit the island of waterfalls, streams, and fountains that is in the tree end of the complex. Another fun shopping day at Gertens.

After shopping the fun continued with lunch back at Patti's, followed by swimming for Ian and then awesome banana cream pie made by my talented nephew James. A long drive home, and at least this time there was no snow and only minimal rain. Still cold. May 8th, and I'm still using the heated seats and the car heater. Craziness!

My garden tasks are piling up. I have the dozen perennials, dinner-plate dahlia tubers, slow-release fertilizer to get down, the VIP baskets to plant and four packs of sunflower seeds to sow. Plus I still want to get a vegetable plot from our church and get the plants for out front and the window boxes and herbs for the deck and a few pockets of annuals for the other gardens. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and my request for the day is to do something fun together. If it's not too cold we are going to Kellogg to Lark Toys and play minigolf, maybe buy ice cream and ride the carousel too. With all that fun there won't be time tomorrow for gardening, and then this week I travel to Salt Lake City for work, so no time this week. And next week I'm taking Ian and a friend to the camper. Yikes! It's like this every spring though, and I wouldn't have it any other way.