Fairhaven Plant Sale

Yesterday we went to the Fairhaven Plant & Tree sale. We tried to restrain ourselves, and had some success, but even so we came home with the backseat full of new shrubs & plants. We bought two Arctic Willows (salix purpurea 'nana'), which should do very well in our wet, heavy soil.
The other shrub we came home with was a gift from Cary's parents. It's a lovely and unusual shrub from asia, Cryptomeria japonica 'elegans compacta', commonly called Dwarf Japanese Cedar, although it's not related to cedars at all. The regular species is a big tree, but this cultivar is only supposed to get about 6' tall. It's plenty winter hardy for our area, but we will have to try and find a place for it where its roots won't get too flooded.

We haven't yet figured out where these new shrubs will be planted, so for now they are joining our own little "nursery" in the yard. We have some rhubarb, some blackberries, a couple of sea buck-thorns and a few other things already in the collection. We actually planted a pair of Mock Oranges (Philadelphus lewisii) on either side of the driveway the other day, so there's hope that we'll get the rest of the collection in the ground before too much longer.
(no, ours are not in bloom, I found this picture on someone else's website!)

We also picked up a few herb starts at the plant sale, which I planted in one of our large planters, along with a nice big volunteer parsley plant that Dave dug out of his garden for us. What a nice way to spend a spring day - looking at plants and then puttering around potting a little bit. :)