Cottage Grove – open Mon-Fri 9-8, Sat and Sun 9-6.

Edgerton – open Mon-Fri 8:30-6, Sat 8:30-5, Sun 9-4.

"I get to keep this, right?"
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So, it happened again. There I was minding my own business, kinda in and out of a great nap (gosh, I make it sound like I sleep a lot don’t I?) and I heard a word that made my ears perk up.  Sadly, this time it was not one of my favorite words or expressions like ‘treat’, ‘walk’ or ‘a surprise for Lucy.’  This is one of the ugliest words known to us descendents of the great wolf.  The word makes my skin crawl.  Actually, it makes my skin itch!  Yep, you guessed it…FLEAS!

My mom was talking some kind of nonsense to my dad about finding fleas and selling fleas. What’s gotten into her this time?  She took everything out of the cupboards and closets looking for fleas.  She picked through it all and put only some of the stuff back where it came from.  Stacks and stacks of odds-and-ends were building in the kitchen, the hall way, and the bedrooms.  I didn’t see any signs of fleas, but hey, I was keeping my distance, ya know what I’m saying? Then she disappeared down to the basement to, apparently, look for them down there too.   

You’re probably wondering where my dad was during all of this, weren’t you?  Well, my dad was in his ‘man cave’ (just another example of silly words that a dog would never consider uttering). This is where my dad disappears to when my mom is on one of her ‘missions’ as my dad puts it.  There is a TV, a comfy chair and a cooler out there.  Oh, ‘out there’ means out in the garage.  He seems to think he is safe there, but it doesn’t seem to be, ‘cause that’s the first place my mom goes to look for him. 

My dad could tell that I was confused by all the commotion the fleas were causing, so my sweet dad let me join him in his cave.  Then he explained the whole ‘selling fleas’ thing to me.  Apparently, my mom wasn’t looking for real live biting, itchy annoying fleas to sell.  She was looking for stuff that she didn’t want or need anymore and she was going to sell the stuff at a thing like a great big garage sale with a bunch of other people.  Well, for goodness sakes! Why didn’t she just say garage sale? I know what those are. We have a couple of them at our house every summer.   

Finally, my mom came up from the basement and stuck her head into the garage.  She had an armful of stuff and asked my dad if he would please help carry more stuff up for the flea sale (aka garage sale).

After they got done carrying things upstairs my mom looks over at me and my dad and says,

“Hmmm, I wonder what else I can get rid of.”

I’m not quite sure if it was the tone in her voice or the look in her eyes when she said that, but my dad and I looked at each other and then we made a mad dash for the back door. 

~Lucy

Thanks to all who responded to last week’s contest.  The correct name of Lucy’s backyard detective dummy is Drake after Paul Drake from the 1957 Perry Mason series.  Tammy, was the first person to post the correct name on Facebook and has won a $25 America’s Best Flowers gift card.

~Till next time,
Shirley

Buddleia davidii ‘Petite Purple’
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Buddleja davidii ‘Black Knight’

If you like butterflies and hummingbirds then we have the perfect flowering shrub for you.  Our featured Black Knight and Petite Purple Butterfly Bush have fragrant and long-lasting blooms that you’ll be able to enjoy from April through October.  This fast-growing and drought-tolerant shrub likes full to part sun. 

Relax and enjoy the colorful concert of color the Butterfly Bush will bring to your garden.

Stop on out and pick up one or more of our Butterfly Bushes and receive 20% off!

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America’s Best Flowers
2014 Flea Market Schedule and Information

We all have too much stuff, don’t we?  Why not take advantage of the opportunity to turn your garage and basement clutter into cold hard cash! 

For participation we require a non-refundable registration fee of $25.00.  After you have your space set up on the morning of the flea market, America’s Best Flowers will present you with a $20.00 America’s Best Flowers gift card. 

Each vendor will be allowed two parking spaces, which equals one booth, to display their wares.  More vendor space is available for an additional $10.00 for each parking space.  Additional space must be requested at the time of the initial registration.  Each vendor is limited to only one $20.00 America’s Best Flowers gift card regardless of the number of parking spaces (booths).  The flea market will be located in our huge blacktop parking lot.  Rain or shine!

[Read the Full Details Here [Updated]]

Weather permitting America’s Best Flowers we will be at the following local farmers markets:

For exact farmers market locations please refer to the above websites.

Bryce Abbott-Bilsky is an 8 year old 2^nd grader at Cottage Grove Elementary school.  Bryce, has recently been diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, which is a rare form of bone cancer. 

To assist Bryce’s family with medical expenses a fundraiser will be held on Saturday, July 12, at the Black Bear Inn, 320 W. Cottage Grove Road, Cottage Grove, Wi.

For more details please contact Angela at 608-220-3816 or bebravewithbryce@gmail.com.

America’s Best Flowers wants to help you succeed in your gardening efforts. If you have gardening questions send an email to our Operations Manager, Al Lunde, at abflunde@yahoo.com. Al will get back to you promptly. Let America’s Best Flowers be your go-to greenhouse for answers.