The Great Plant Sale and Getting Shamed | Mark’s Remarks

Every year, I go to The Great Plant Sale. It’s a closeout type sale, with customers being allowed to shove a cart full of plants for a discount price. It’s really an excellent deal, even with a price increase this year.
Part of the fun is watching the people around you. The rules of the game involve not piling your cart too high, having no more than six hanging baskets on the outside of your cart, and putting what you could under the cart, too. This year, you were allowed to pile a little higher and put more hanging baskets on the outside. This added to the mayhem and the fun.

I started with perennials, of course, because they are good investments. If you can plant them this late in the summer and keep them alive, you’ll see them again next year. Thinking about this, I stocked my cart with as many of the scant group of perennials as I could get my hands on. I strategically placed them in my cart.

Next, I scanned the large greenhouse for geraniums, grasses, and other plants that were good bets. There were some good arrangements Michelle would like to put on the patio. Again, I placed them carefully in the cart.

Seeing that everyone was passing me with these large pots of cool looking flowers, I loaded one of those up, too. It now sits near our front door, still alive.

Lastly, I started hanging the baskets on the outside of the cart, and got it so packed full that I was afraid the cart would tip over. Oh wait, I still had the bottom to fill up. I found some wire baskets that looked a little like window boxes. It was a stretch, but they slid on the underneath of the basket with a little coaxing.

As I approached the front check out, I knew to avoid the drill sergeant lady on the left side who appeared to be no-nonsense; the type who wouldn’t give you a break. I heard her telling someone that things couldn’t be four inches above the cart, which clearly went against what we’d been told when the place opened up. So I avoided the plant nazi and headed for the kinder, gentler lady in the front.

Let me backtrack just a bit. You see, even though there is an air of competition in the room, we all enjoy one another’s bounty as we shop. The bargain shoppers, all equal gluttons in this overabundance of cheap horticulture, seem to cheer one another on and talk to one another and help one another. “Oh my, where did you find that one?’

As I continued up and down the aisles, I noticed a sweet mother-daughter team loading down three baskets. I envied their organizational skills as they seemed to have much more in their carts than I could fit. I passed them several times with big smiles, nods, and some polite laughter. After a while, I wished I had come along with them. Maybe they could teach me something.

We happened to meet at the kinder-gentler lady’s checkout, and I inquired if the older lady was going to plant all those plants (now four cartloads) today. Her daughter smiled a sweet smile and said “These plants are for our church. We do this every year.” Her mother smiled also, but with that “are you crazy” look on her face, telling me “Lord child, I’m too old to plant any of these plants.”

We all laughed.

Then, I noticed they were sizing up my cart, too, which by now made me look greedy and self-centered. I couldn’t fib. “Well, I’m going home to plant all of these plants right now. I’m not taking any of them to my church. But, bless you,” I said with a somewhat mischevious grin.
This time, both ladies got that grin on their face with the furrowed brow that said “You silly man.”

Then they added “Umm huh,” as if to shame me a little for my purchase. I continued to laugh, shamed or not.

I paid the checkout lady and told my new friends that I wished them the best and that they were sweethearts.

As I drove away, my van loaded to the gills, I noticed them with their helpers. They were loading their plants into a U-haul trailer.

Umm huh. That was one blessed church.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Mark Tullis

Mark is a 25-year veteran teacher teaching in Columbia. Originally from Fairfield, Mark is married with four children. He enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with his family, and has been involved in various aspects of professional and community theater for many years and enjoys appearing in local productions. Mark has also written a "slice of life" style column for the Republic-Times since 2007.
HTC web
MonroeCountyElectric300X15012_19