Saturday, May 14, 2011

Wartime Magazines and New Plants

Ithaca Plant Sale
Summer's promise in a plant
To bloom one day soon

The library sale
Magazines of the 40's
My heart beats faster

On an overcast spring day, spouse and I headed up (a bit more than an hour's drive each way) to Ithaca.  The plant sale, as we expected, was mobbed and plants went fast.  These were some of my finds:


This is a white marigold called Vanilla.  I've tried several times to grow white marigolds with varying success.  (as many gardeners know, white is not a normal shade for marigolds - which are usually yellow, red/yellow or orange.)

This next one (which came out a bit overexposed) is something called a Lamiastrum. (or False Lamium.  True Lamium is something also known as Dead Nettle).   It has yellow flowers and variegated foliage.

We next went to Cornell Plantations on the Cornell University campus.  This treasure is a must see for people interested in gardening, flowering trees, ornamentals-or who just like to look at beauty.  And, it's all free. (Warning though, parking can be hard to find, especially during the week.)

We were not expecting to see a new visitors center.  This photo does not do justice to this "green" building.  The official grand opening is next Sunday, but with the price of gas being what it is (and the parking situation being what it is), we can't justify two visits to Ithaca in one week.

We bought an interesting flower pot there, which I will try to blog about later this week.

Near the visitors center, a magnolia caught our eye.

After a stop at Purity Ice Cream, we went to one of the country's largest library book sales, hosted by the Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library. (ironically, for all the times I have gone to the book sale, I have never set foot in the actual library.)

This year (I seem to have a talent of visiting when this area of the sale is closed) I was able to visit Collectors Corner and pick up some ephemera.  I do have an interest in certain ephemera, especially that of the 1940's (war time) and 1950's.  For the vast sum of $2.40, I picked up this wartime issue of Woman's Day magazine. (I don't collect these to make money:  I just love looking through them.)


Along with that I got a present for my son, who loves old electronics:  an issue of Byte Magazine from the 1970's.





And now, we are supposed to have rain in the forecast for the next 6 or so days.

Ah, upstate NY spring.

1 comment:

  1. I bet the Woman's Day magazine was fascinating to read. I like to pick up old cooking magazines at library sales, but I've never seen any from the 1940s. It would be fun to look at what the recipes were like then.

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