When the weather is tough, the tough go shopping

The weather is wet and windy and generally yucky. I'd never been to the Master Gardeners plant sale, so I decided today would be a good day to get a lethal chill. There were lots of perennials and a few vegetable plants, plus a few other vendors offered fruit trees and natives. Without a plan, though, I hated to buy stuff just to be buying stuff. I actually walked away plantless.

Since I was in a plant-buying mood, I stopped at Stuckys on the way home and dropped a C-note to help the local economy. I've been wanting to plant something yellow in front of the barberry and have been leaning toward a dwarf golden variety of the same. At Stuckys I spotted a creeping broad-leaved sedge 'Banana Boat' that would offer not only a different color, but different form and texture as well. That's good, right?

It also tolerates clay soil, prefers moisture (its future location is on the wet side of the driveway), and wants to be shaded. If it creeps under the barberry, that is fine with me, but I expect it to be more mound-shaped.

Because I am a sucker for sedum, I picked up a few Sedum rupestre (reflexum) 'Lemon Ball' plants. The bed by the front walk contains quite a few sedums already, both creeping and tall. I am planning to move the 'Autumn Joy' from under the Japanese maple to this bed, but am trying to do it in a more controlled fashion than my usual willy-nilly style.

And yet I made this purchase impulsively.

I wasn't going to grow any tomatoes this year, but my son is staying with me right now and requested some cherries. 'Juliet' (a grape variety) and 'Sunsugar' (a yellow cherry) came home with me. It's the least I can do, in exchange for all the mowing he does for me.

My attempts to grow annual vines look pretty pathetic, and I was tempted by some much more robust specimens at Stuckys, but balked at paying $8 a pop for them (even though they each came with their own little bamboo trellis). The ornamental sweet potato also tempted me, but I opted for the lavender trailing lantana (Lantana Rastrera) instead. Both are attractive to the eye, but the latter is also attractive to butterflies. We'll see how it does on the pergola.