Whew, That Was Close!

I was back at the nursery yesterday, in pursuit of a plant that I loved last year but had been unable to find so far this year: Coleus "Fishnet Stockings". I mentioned it in a post last year. I've seen it written about twice already this year. The first article I saw appeared in Fine Gardening magazine and, at that point, I wasn't worried because that's not a magazine that reaches the gardening masses. But then the plant was featured in the Sunday Washington Post a couple of weeks ago. Oh boy. Good luck finding it now.

Off to Merrifield Gardening Center I went yesterday. They had rows upon rows of every kind of coleus imaginable. There were hundreds. You can bet I looked at every single one. And you know how it is when your desire for something increases exponentially in relation to the dimishing probability that you'll ever find it. Desperate, I finally did what I rarely do at nurseries--I asked for help. The people that work at this nursery are so friendly and know what service is all about. The sales assistant offered to check the back stock. Given the tens of thousands of plants on display at this place, I found it hard to believe there even was a back stock. Anyway, she trotted off, leaving me to cool my heels for a while. I told her if she found any, I'd take three. Originally, I only went looking for two but that whole scarcity thing took over.

After about 10 minutes she returned--plants in hand. She said she had almost given up hope but she managed to find four of them mixed in with some other types. Keeping my word, I only took three. I wanted to leave one for the next person who might come in all wild-eyed, looking for Fishnet Stockings.

Bookshelf: Container Gardening Books