Shopping for Scarce Items

Even though there haven't been runs on groceries or other supplies for over a year, some of the shelves are still bare. Nevertheless, I've found most of what I've been looking for: garden shrubs, holiday tea, flavoring, supplements and ivermectin. I'm not affiliated with any of these vendors.

Bottlebrush plant (fothergilla gardenii) Photo from dasfarms at Etsy

I'm going to plant the last strip of grass by the sidewalk with native perennials and a few bottlebrush plants next year. I have the perennial seeds--some of them are already stratifying in the refrigerator--but I wanted a few bottlebrush plants, too. It's a North American shrub with fragrant blooms that look like--well, bottle brushes in the spring. The fall color is beautiful. But the dwarf size is hard to find! I finally found some at dasfarms on Etsy, a shop with lots of positive reviews at Dave's Garden. The owner said the mature size depends on soil and water. They'll be going on a south-facing slope in alkaline clay, so hopefully they'll stay small.

Zephirine Drouhin rose. Photo from David Austin Roses.

I grew Zephirine Drouhin--a very fragrant, thornless, antique rose from France--at my old place in Denver. It was one of my favorites. The Indianapolis Rose Society says it does well here, unlike a lot of my favorites that are prone to fungal diseases. Jackson & Perkins has the rose back in stock, and I paid them them $50 for one. Yes--$50, which includes shipping. But I've always gotten good plants from them, and Zephirine Drouhin should beautify the spot I've picked out for years to come.

Photo from Home Depot.

I've tried for years to grow great bell peppers, but just as they start to mature, the growing season ends. This year, though, I finally found the best bell pepper I've ever grown: Right Stuff from Burpee. When I went to their site to order more seeds, I saw they were out. A customer service rep I contacted said they were no longer offering it. So I took a Right Stuff bell pepper from the garden and saved the seeds. It was growing among hot peppers, so hopefully the seeds aren't crossed with them.

Photo from Celestial Seasonings

Every year around Christmas, the grocery stores in Denver carried holiday teas from Celestial Seasonings. My favorite was Candy Cane Lane--it had just the right blend of vanilla, tea and peppermint. My sister liked Nutcracker Sweet, and I'd send her some since she couldn't find it in Nebraska. Well--I can't find any of them here in Indy. Trader Joes has a good facsimile of Candy Cane Lane called Candy Cane Green Tea (also with a polar bear on the box, just in case the name isn't a big enough clue). But I needed several things that were hard to find, so I ordered Candy Cane Lane from Vitacost.

Photo from Vitacost.

I made orange whoopies (cookies) last week and used my last bit of orange flavor. Today, a visit to five different stores failed to turn up any more. But Vitacost had it, along with inulin, zinc tablets and few other vitamins. (They're out of Pur water filters for pitchers, though--Ace Hardware had them in October for a ridiculous amount of money.)

Ivermectin. If you want to try ivermectin for COVID, and you're willing to use the veterinary kind, Tractor Supply has it. But you'll have to pre-order it, pick it up in person, and figure out your dosage. They also have some wonderful vintagey stuff there and a guide to Indiana's butterflies that I picked up.

Hopefully, with ports in Houston and Jacksonville taking more shipments and COVID rules loosening (at least in the US), supply chains will improve next year.