A Snip Here a Snip There

Perennial plants just make more sense to me. The idea of not only keeping the same beautiful plant year after year, but watching it grow and then turning it into more beautiful plants every 3 years or so really intrigues me! So I have been doing a little bit of experimenting lately.

The bulk of my current garden perennials are herbs, most were grown from seeds started this spring in my kitchen. There are a few common garden staples such as sage, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, tarragon and mint. I also have some more lively characters like pineapple sage and anise hyssop.

I am a little nervous to see how they over winter in the cold here so I have also picked up the new hobby of rooting cuttings. I found plans for a great, easy rooting box on GardenWeb and have been giving it a try. My first few attempts were on no fail plants, coleus and wandering jew. I picked up a few house plants over the summer at a yard sale I found on craigslist for a song. The lady said she does sales every couple of months of just cutting starts from her house as a supplemental income. A great Idea, but really only reasonable here during the summer which leaves me wondering what to do with the 100 or so babies I just potted up from round One. I have herbs in the box now and will do a full post on how to make it in a few days.

I have been trying to add to my perennial collection as well, whenever I can afford to. Normal garden center prices on them are not in my gardening budget so I keep my eyes out for opportunities. My first big break came last month when the local Day Lily Society held their annual sale. We got there late, which is no big surprise for us, and had just missed the raffle which was for $25, $50, $75, and $100 in lilies. I was kicking myself for being late when they next announced that all the bare root plants were now 50% off and all the potted 1 gallon containers were $1 because they didn't want to have to haul all the heavy pots back home. Jackpot! I brought home a dozen of each and spent a mere $24 total. The bare root lillies are overwintering in the vegetable garden, tucked into what empty corners I could find and the pots will be burried under mulch unless I can actually get the front landscaping finished.

I got another great deal on lilies last week thanks to craigslist again. I check the garden section and the free section every morning and found a post for a house right down the street that had divided up a bunch of yellow DayLilies and had bags of them sitting on the sidewalk for free. A short drive later and I had a plastic shopping bag full to add to my collection.

I also suggest never being afraid of the little potted herbs that have been showing up in the produce section of most large grocery stores. They usually run right around $2-$3 and actually take well to the garden after a short hardening off period. I picked up my pineapple sage that way and it has grown into a big, beautiful mound of fragrant goodness in no time at all.

Next on the To Do list is to try my hand at some woody cuttings. There is a raspberry in the corner of my yard I wouldn't mind trying to replicate as well as an old lilac my in-laws ignore that is rumored to have gotten it's start as a stick pushed into the ground to mark the grave of a beloved pet decades ago.

I have also been reading again and found some great ideas for plants to try and find. My new wish list: Mountain Sandwort, Pot Marigold, Lily-of-the-Valley, Monbretia, Globe Thistle, Snow Drops, Iris, Kerria, Creeping Jenny, Star of Bethlehem, Poppies, Virginia Lions Heart, Lungwort, Allegheny Foam Flower, and Periwinkles.


My Book Bag

Plants For Free by Sharon Amos How to create a great garden for next to nothing. This book focuses on plants that easily self seed, or divide, and how to use them in the garden. It has a lot of great ideas about placement, flow, drift and use. The bulk of the book, however, is made up of a colour guide to the best self-reproducing plants with high detail on needs, care, propogation and tips. This is where my new wish list came from, my favorite selections from the guide that are hardy to zone 4! The book also provides basic techniques for cutting, layering, etc. A handy light guide.

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