Lowe’s

Had an older associate working on saving me money by throwing out suggestions and then even cut a board for me on the spot. Pretty impressed.

Gary S. at Lowes, has always been great. Much to my surprise, he was running the appliance department. I came in and he was able to answer all my questions. I he model I wanted wasn’t in stock but would be in, in a couple of days. I love dealing with Gary whenever I come in, he is a good man. At the last minute, my wife wanted a small tree to put in the house because we go away during Christmas week, Valarie was leaving when she noticed we had one item and went back to cash us out, you don’t get that kind of service everyday, so thank you Valarie. This trip has been worth it.

If you have a green thumb, I’ve got a secret for you.
The annual and perennial flowers and plants here can be crazy expensive (especially if you’re buying them in large quantities). Why buy them healthy and vibrant when you can get them at a fraction of the price a couple weeks later when the leftover ones have been discarded, left for dead, when new plants come in? I’m being totally serious here — for (one) example: I’ve bought eight to ten FLATS of impatiens before for under $ 10. Were they attractive when I purchased them? No; they had definitely seen better days. But with a little TLC, sunshine, and water, within just a couple weeks I had a garden FULL of the most beautiful little flowers you had ever seen. I once got three really thick stargazer lily plants that were brown and dried to a crisp for for $ 5. I planted them anyway, and when they came up the next year they were ENORMOUS, gorgeous in their pink splendor, and abundantly fragrant. One of the best indoor plants I have was just .50 cents because it was on it’s last breath; a year later and it’s the biggest (and most pretty) plant I own!
You should know: not ALL Lowe’s have such an excellent «reduced plant and flower» section (or maybe they do and folks in these towns already know this amazing secret), and I didn’t find this out until I moved. The Lowe’s in my current city never has anything spectacular hiding on those green metal racks adorned with bright yellow, handwritten «REDUCED» signs. Even when they do, the selection is terrible and the prices still seem exorbitant to me (ahh, the cost of Portlandtown living). So, if I’m in the area I always make it a point to swing by the Lowe’s in Auburn to be the little plant scavenger they’ve enabled me to be.
So, from May to October, skip the store entirely. Go right into the fenced off Garden section and look for the «REDUCED» cart (there’s usually two — one right as you walk in, and one off to the right near the soil). Both the birds and the bees in your garden will thank you!