Easter Plant Sale
Hee hee. It's the day of the Nursery Big Easter Plant Sale. This yearly event is the perfect chance for the Head Gardener to perform. It's not quite the waltz of the flowers - more like a courtly suite!
Prelude - The Nonchalant Nursery Entry
Upon entering the nursery it is important (for self esteem) to look like a serious customer of substance - one who could, if she wished, buy six ridiculously overpriced pots and some lanolin gardeners' soap, or a pair of gleaming Germanic top-shelf secateurs. Whereas the only reason she is here is to scour the bargain bin for nursery scraps. Shush!
The Nursery Dance Begins
Allemande - Walking to the Bargain Bin
Casually pushing two trolleys, she will saunter through the fifteen dollar roses and thirty dollar weeping cherries, stopping just once or twice to tickle a leaf gently or turn over a rose label. It's a smooth, stately 'Queen's Progress'. Peripheral vision will pick up the garish Bargain Bin sign, but there must be no reaction - at this stage.
Trolley with Cannas
Gavotte - The Bargain Bin
Arrival at the bargain bin requires good timing - now a definite sense of dance is needed. The two trolleys are parked at a discrete distance, tucked in by the twenty dollar magnolias. A focused eye sweeps over the assembled plants, and the mind quickly plans the order of plant-grab.
Knowing the enemy is vital here - rival plant-grabbers must be assessed in a flash as to their preferences. For example, faintly coloured stylish perms won't usually want the Phormium Tenaxes - far too rough! They'll have their hands full with the perennial geraniums and petunias. The gumbooted, wild-haired old-denims will be after all the tough New Zealand natives.
Aargh! Here they come! Time to strike!
Minuet and Double - The Collection
It's now rhythmic swipe and grab time. Large bags of Agapanthus are lifted elegantly with two fingers and deftly swung onto the ground. Pittosporums, Corokias and Flaxes are relayed directly to patient non-gardening partner, who is in charge of the trolleys. Body movements must still be discrete, and there should be no evidence of excessive greed. Balance, quick arm speed, and an athletic lunge are vital.
Gigue - The Leaving Dance
Right! We're off. This is the quickest movement! Join the queue, pay something like thirty six dollars for two trolleyfuls of the most desirable plants in the gardening world (hopefully!), then surround the back-or-the-car traveller (Rusty Dog) with pots and bags of greenery. What a cute look! Dog in foliage! Yippee!
Car Boot Sale?
So what's next, after this delicate little Easter Gardening Suite? Apart from The Planting (which can oddly take weeks) there's something else. The nursery usually restocks that Bargain Bin in the late afternoon. Hmm... Time for a return running visit! How about a Courante?