Story of a Plant

Everyone knows that I'm a fan of free plants, and part of my job is driving around, so I have the opportunity to find them before they go to the landfill.  There was a dry spell for me for a couple of years as far as finding free plants, but the past year has been really good.  Last spring I picked up a couple hibiscuses and a potted palm.  Later in the summer I picked up a number of houseplants.  In the fall I found a number of alliums and another hibiscus.  Since I don't have good sun in my house, I don't really buy tropical plants.  I pick them up and enjoy them during the warmer months and let nature take its course.  I may spend a little bit of time shuffling them in and out of the garage when freezing weather hits, but usually there's one that I miss and they all die.  With the exception of the first hibiscus I picked up, most of those plants have survived - a few became Christmas gifts.

I found my first free plant of the spring and it is a whopper.  Someone was cleaning out a house and there was a huge planter full of aspidistra (Cast Iron plant) on the curb with the rest of the yard waste.  Since the owner was nearby, I asked if I could have it.  She said I could and offered to help get it in my truck.  I didn't realize how heavy it was - the large clay pot filled with aspidistra must have weighed well over fifty pounds.  Then she said, "I'm glad I cleaned out the wasp's nest before I put it on the street".  I had to drive around for another hour and kept wondering about the wasps - especially after I saw one and killed it, and another and killed it, and another and killed it!

Only three wasps - that wasn't bad, but then I began to worry about if it would fit in my car - I just got a new, smaller car the other day.  Well, it's not that it's smaller, but more like it's less versatile - and being very clean on the inside made it harder for me to wantonly stuff plants into it, knowing that the soil would go everywhere.  I managed to get it home in one piece and keep my car clean (it got dirty when I went to the feed store later), but I had to find a place for it.  Temporarily it is in about the shadiest part of the yard, and I plan to repot it, maybe into two pots, it's so big.  But that will have to wait until my back feels better.  Ouch!

Assessing Winter Casualties

Since the weather has warmed up so much, I've been meaning to assess all the damage that our unusually cold winter did to our plants. I will say that most things came back as expected. Daylilies are thriving, bog lilies and hostas too. Most of our winter casualties are not too surprising. I had a majesty palm I bought 15 months ago and overwintered it original in the garage. Temporarily I dug a hole by the pond and put the whole thing, pot and all, in the ground, intending to plant it later that year- I put it in the hole, because it kept blowing over. I was concerned that it was a little too tropical to be outside all year and I was right - at least this past year. It shows no signs of life.

Most of my original shade garden died back, including the ferns I got off the side of the road, the ferns I got from the woods and the hostas that I divided last year. After dividing it last April, I had four plants until the other day - I only saw one coming back, but as of now all four are back, and I'm glad. Another plant that's back are the ferns we got out of the woods last summer. They're sprouting again with more foliage than before.

Almost a year ago I rescued some sort of pine that Lowe's sells during Xmas - It's evergreen and they put red and gold bows and decorations on it like an Xmas tree. This pine had certainly been neglected, but it didn't look half bad. I repotted it and it thrived during the summer in the partial shade near the back of the house. When fall came, I tossed the African daisies that were in a planter near the front door and put this pine in it - I figured it would be something good for the fall and winter. After the cold winter we had this year, it just got burned and the needles turned brown. I just assumed it died from the cold, it looked so bad. At that point it wasn't worth saving.

Another plant you could say I gave up on was my Black Magic Taro. It sat all summer and fall in a tub of water in the driveway, waiting to be planted in the bog. Needless to say it didn't survive, if I'm writing about it here. While the elephant ears in the bog were coming back to life, I waited on the ones in the container to do the same, but no such luck. If I really want more, I can always get some from the people I gave some to.

Lastly, a few thing I got at the fall plant swap didn't make it. This always happens - usually by neglect, because I always have so many plants that I can't take care of. However, these were more winter casualties. Fairly early in the fall we had to bring in the "Black Pearl" ornamental pepper - apparently it doesn't like anything below 60 degrees. Our house is a death trap for most plants - ironic, isn't it? We just don't get much sunlight. After several years I've adapted to this. We have a peace lily, cast iron plant, a pteris fern and an African violet, and they're all doing fine.