MollyMc said:Yep, the difference between Home Depot and Lowe's is quite clear. HD never has a distressed rack so I don't waste my time there.

Off the plant subject, but on to the dumpster diving subject....we do repaints at student housing apartments here in Gainesville, it happens every August. We have gained wicker furniture, end tables, patio furniture, clothing, kitchen appliances, area rugs and so many other things.

Parents set their young people up with all they need to live, and when they leave, they see no value in keeping any of these things.

It's where I found my last boyfriend.

At colleges near the start of summer I have found: chairs, aquariums, tables (AKA plant stands), hampers, baskets, clothes...and probably more stuff that I'm forgetting. Students throw everything that can't fit in their cars away at the end of the semester. And I collect it like an old creeper.

I did score some amaryllis bulbs from Lowes for $2.50 ea., but they were not in kits.

my Aldi 25 cent poinsettias still look very nice- 5 blooms each, plus the foil on the pots.

And just think... come spring, you can cut it back and plant it in the ground for the summer. But, what ever would you do with all of those cuttings? Hmmmmmm..... I wonder .....

haha. Actually I do think they are sort of attractive for foliage alone

Wellll, you *might* pay $7 for a red lion amaryllis bulb... unless you got one from our yearly group buy, Rick! Those $5 jumbo bulbs from Peru are amazing.

Catching up after busy holidays...I have to agree about Home Depot, they never have a clearance rack. Lowe's hasn't had much of anything worth a darn for a couple months. However I hit pay-dirt at a local Walmart. Geraniums for a buck, pretty pink and a red one, and a beautiful healthy pot of Purple Persian Shield, perfectly healthy nice plants. Geraniums are nice this time as they can take pretty cold temperatures.

Oh, Sheri, your winter clearance plants in Florida are a dream of spring for us colder people!

I finally got into Lowes yesterday but too late for holiday leftovers.
I couldn't even justify the tiny misc Kalanchoes as I know they will etiolate on me. I did get a bluebird house on clearance, for hubby's birthday in March. I should include a note with his gift that it would be time for HIM to look for a clearance bird feeder for My fall birthday.

Our local WalMart neighborhood grocery had Red Lion and Minerva Amaryllis growing kits on clearance for 1/2 price...$2,50 each.

I will rescue any plant that I see. I got two great plants one a snake plant, the other I have no idea, when a resident moved out of our apartment community across the country. I also buy from Lowe's or wherever I see clearance plants if I have the extra money on hand.

Good deal, Karen!
Anyone get after Valentines plants? Aldi had phalaenopsis for 7.99 not cheap enough for me to jump, though certainly a good price if you needed your first orchid.

Welcome KarenDA! Most of us are plant rescuers. I do kill my fair share though.

I just rescued an Alocasia amazonica, from Lowe's. It was marked $9.98 and I got it in a 3 qt pot for $4.99...bless it's bone dry body...it had half a dozen dry dead leaves, one bent stem, a dried up bloom and 5 really nice looking leaves.
Now if I can just keep it happy til spring..

Unfortunately sometimes it seems like I "rescue" the plants only to perform euthanasia. lol

lol, Di, maybe hospice care is more like what you're doing.
I got a clearance anthurium mehani, once, never did make it happy.

In general, I'm always drawn to defects in near anything, and it's no different when it comes to plants. I'm normally not even allowed to stray to wherever the plants are located in stores because more than likely I'll fall in love with one, when I probably have more than enough to take care of right now. I've gotten sad looking plants before, but they're usually given to me for free by other people who have given up on them and don't want them anymore. There was one peace lily I was offered that I declined and still regret to this day because I'm sure it's dead now. It probably would have died under my care, anyway, but I just feel bad just rejecting it. It was this horribly neglected peace lily in one of my high school buildings' lobbies that one of the secretaries I guess actually dumped her coffee on (actually why?) and I always spent my freetime in my bioscience class grooming it and caring for it. When I graduated one of the other secretaries asked me if I wanted it, and I didn't take it with me. I really should have. I wish I did.

There were a few instances of me rescuing full price plants too. Specifically, there was this one African violet I got at a conservatory and they ripped me off by charging me for the pot it came in too. The plant just continued to deteriorate over the three or four months that it was alive, despite me trying to nurse it back. I wasn't even mad about the money factor, I just wanted to give that violet love because I knew it wasn't going to get any, and no one was probably going to buy it.

ddriver8 said:Unfortunately sometimes it seems like I "rescue" the plants only to perform euthanasia. lol

This sounds like me, haha. Except I always feel guilty when the plant inevitably dies. Even if it wasn't directly my fault, I still feel like it is. Like I guess I go in expecting that I can save it, even though deep down, I kind of already know I probably can't.

When in an office, I had a tendency to rescue plants given up for dead by co-workers.

10+ years later, I have pots of snake plants, rat-tail cactus, spider plants, and ivies still growing happily. In fact, thinking about it, all my houseplants except a 40 year old waxy hoya are rescues.

I got 3 succulent plants for 50 cents! Old Christmas gift nobody bought but they survived neglect and all survived so they each have their own pot!

Yardenman said:When in an office, I had a tendency to rescue plants given up for dead by co-workers.

10+ years later, I have pots of snake plants, rat-tail cactus, spider plants, and ivies still growing happily. In fact, thinking about it, all my houseplants except a 40 year old waxy hoya are rescues.

I work an an environment that doesn't allow plants. Otherwise I'd probably have little African violets all over the place.

Jai
your work doesn't allow plants ?!
Can't imagine.
My windowsill is jam-packed. The plants have become legends; people come by to see my plants; oh, they say hi to me, too, but when the hoya go into bloom, I get a lot of company.