Plants, Bi-Mart

Hahaha! That is one hilarious gardening story, Andy. The things elderly gardening ladies will do...! I had an incident last year when a neighbor saw a man come up to my tall, gorgeous delphiniums right by my front door. Broad daylight - and I was inside. He yanked the tallest stalk out of the middle, roots and all, and walked off with it. I was mad - my delphiniums, no less!

Delphiniums are special and delicate and despite being somewhat temperamental, repay a lot of love and care.
I would have tortuyed him slowly before killing him!

Oh, I thought about it! I was never successful with them in California. I lived on the coast and snails always ate them down to nubs before they even flowered and despite snail/slug bait. Here, nothing eats them except deer, but there aren't many of those in town. I keep thinking "this is the year they'll discover my delphiniums!" For care, all I do is start fertilizing in late winter and prop them up so they won't fall over. maybe I'll electrify the wire frame!

The Northwest chain we remember fondly is Fred Meyer. As big as the Wal-Box, but seems to have generally higher quality selection. A few years back we ended up spending a morning shopping at the Fred Meyer in Bellevue--isn't that what everyone does on their vacation?? ;)