Garden Gallop

Garden Gallop. That's what our seniors minister, Dave Lautzenheiser, calls the annual event I enjoyed with about 14 others today. It's simple. The church provides two vans and drivers and hauls seniors from the church to various garden centers in the area. The backs of the vans hold all the plants and other garden goodies the seniors buy. They get to see several places, some of which they might not have been to before. They don't have to drive. And they have fellowship along the way.
We visited at least 5 different spots today, maybe more. Stopped for lunch at a wonderful restaurant, Parker's Blue Ash Grill and Tavern, and ended the day at Graeter's in Mason.
I've gone with the group before because
a) I love to go to garden centers in the spring,
b) Dave's a buddy, and it's fun to go with him (and he likes me to come along in a largely female crowd), and
c) after all, I AM a senior citizen!  :-)
Usually, though, I look and look and don't do much buying. But I'm feeling the pressure of time this year, with some May travel and a June wedding in the future (accompanied by a LOT of company around that time), so I decided to buy as much as I could today. I came home with many plants. Interestingly, I stopped by Meijer on the way home to pick up something we needed, and I couldn't resist their garden center. I found several things to augment what I'd already bought--they had the same quality and much lower prices than several places we had visited.

Here's everything I bought, huddled on the back of the deck, ready to be planted in the next several days.

And here's the empty pots on my deck that will hold SOME of this blooming bounty. I'll certainly be showing this scene again, once the deck garden is complete.

While I was at it, I couldn't resist taking this picture of my lettuce garden, sprouting in a planter on the deck. Evelyn laughs at me every year when I try this. It's not like this will ever make a meal. But it IS fun to grow something we can eat!