Getting plants for your garden

There is much going on at the Tiny Bungalow these days but I'll start by writing about the garden. The early bloomers seem to be going strong with the help of some great weather. None of my black tulips came up this year. Not sure why. All of the white ones look nice, as do the yellow and white crocuses that were already in the yard when we arrived here. A couple years ago, I put in champagne colored daffodils. I got a bag of 24 bulbs for something like 2 bucks at because they were left over after bulb season. They look very nice this year.Someone asked me the other day about how I have so many types of plants. I don't spend gobs of money on the plant material. Most, like the daffodils, I got on sale. I also have a lot of "leftovers" from the year that I threw down the wildflower seed. It is amazing how easy that stuff is to tame into a decent looking garden. The other way I get plants is from seed. I have my hollyhocks this way. I also grow my marigolds from last year's seed as well as a few other plants. The problem is that this method is not for the faint of heart. It took two years before I got a blooming hollyhock. The garden also always look a little anemic until July. This year, I have some veggies that are sprouting as well as some seed I grabbed from my mom's Rose of Sharon bush. I'll probably attempt to transplant this stuff a little early this year to see what happens. The final way I get stuff is from friends. My day lilies and awesome irises were a gift from my friend Peg. Yesterday, I spent some time doing a plant trade with my friend Catherine. I gave her 4 of my hollyhocks and 3 purple cone flowers for some daisies, Golden Euphorbia, and a very nice looking hosta (we only have crappy looking ones now at the Tiny Bungalow so this is a welcomed addition). By far, this last method is the most economical and, of course, fun way to get plants and see other people's gardens in the process. By the way, did I tell you that the champagne daffodils look great this year?