In the interest of research to prepare for today's Gnome, we went to the Layman Wholesale Nurseries sale last week in Trenton, S.C. They have unbelievable choices of flowers at terrific prices.

The most expensive things we saw were $50 Japanese maples that would easily run three to four times that much retail.

Knockout roses, miniature roses, gardenias, butterfly bushes, verbena, phlox, gaura, and asters (and this isn't a complete list) will just blow you away. Most everything was $3 or $8, and we're not talking baby plants.

I picked up a few -- a few by the Gnome's math -- and three very nice pots for $35. I picked up one plant that was just intriguing. It's a bush with little yellow flowers, kind of like St. John's wort, which I think it is. Now I have to go back to ask.

The sale continues Wednesdays-Saturdays until Oct. 10. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Although the nursery is in Trenton, the sale site is seven miles closer to Augusta on U.S. Highway 25. It's on the left, about 11 miles from downtown Augusta.

And don't forget McCorkle Nurseries' two-day giant plant sale is today and Friday in Dearing. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. It's a fabulous way to find healthy plants at terrific prices, and it's a blast, too. It's a plant party, really.

My justification for all this is the picture here: my new garden. My better half and I got rid of saplings, monkey grass and English ivy that may have come over on the Mayflower.

I know it doesn't look like much now, but I have high hopes. I couldn't put in the new plants from Layman's this past weekend because the ground was too wet. (Do not work in wet ground because it will ruin the texture of the soil and most likely leave you with unbreakable dirt clods.)

So I set them out and will play around with the placement for a week or so.

I have some other plants that could be transplanted in, such as this incredible ginger that I scored at the Pendleton King Park plant swap and sale this past May. I'm crazy about it but I have to crawl under the palms and Purple Beautyberry to see it. I'm thinking there has to be a perfect spot in the new garden area.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.

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