swanson's fall sale

Today is the first day of Swanson's fall sale where they load their lot full of everything and sell it 40-50% off. I've been wanting 4 trees - 2 for the front yard and 2 for the back. I had thought I would get an aspen or birch for the north-east corner of the front yard, but the aspens aren't as full as I like and the birch were all sold by the time I arrived at 10 a.m. (the sale started at 9 a.m.!). I thought about a few different trees, mostly pines and maples. I almost bought an October Glory maple which was already about 15 feet tall, but realized that while it may be 18-22 feet wide and 30 feet tall in 10 years in 60 it will be about 60 feet tall. While I probably won't be in the this house to deal with it, a future owner will. Instead, I opted for the smaller Paper Bark maple. It's only about 6 feet tall at the moment, but will grow to about 30. A slow grower, but should fit well in the space for many years to come.

Since the maple won't have an immediate visual or shade impact, I also bought a Vulcan Rhodi which will grow to about 5 feet tall and wide. It's about 2 feet by 3 feet right now. I think the red bark of the maple and the red flowers of the rhodi should look good together.

I've been dreaming of wisteria on the front gate and finally bought one today. The black dragon is what I wanted, but there was only one and it didn't look very healthy. Instead, I bought a white japanese wisteria.

The final purchase, I forget the name of it, but it's a shade-loving, big-leafed shrub that reminds me of Hawaii. I'm going to move the iris from the north side of the house into the sun near the driveway and put this bush in their place.

The sale lasts until 2 October. I plan to go back in a couple of weeks to buy rosemary and grasses for the front of the fence and maybe a mountain hemlock for the south, east corner of the front yard.

Really wish I had the room for a fir - I love the smell and look, but they just get too big. darn!

But, I got all that for $112. Not bad!