A trial and error affair is how we started to garden. Most people do. We learn the meaning of SERENDIPITY through our gardening.
On countless occasions we have brought home many plants that we have no plans for in our garden. We simply can't resist bringing home plants that are dirt cheap. Better still free ones.
We have learned that plants get sold at very much discounted prices at the close of private plant sales. One local garden club, for instance, would sell any plant for as low as $1 a pot during the last remaining hour of its plant sale. During this hour, we go into a frenzy of grabbing any pot that contains some green leaves, no matter what plant is in it.
At the end of such forage based on foliage we would accumulate a decent horde of potted plants. The garden club sellers beam with satisfaction; we have a bigger smile, thinking we just got ourselves a wonderful bargain!
Once home from the plant sale and if we had the time, these plants become part of our new flower beds in our ever-growing garden. But most of the time we merely dig holes in our already established gardens and plunked our new bargains into those holes with no authentic plan for these plants. We often forget where we have planted the additions as most perennials die back by autumn. But they manage to make their presence known the following growing season. Some plants belong right in. SERENDIPITY. Other plants, obviously, need to be transplanted to better locations. Oh well, at least we get more exercise in the process - for free, and no gym time required. Truly a bargain, right?
Neighbors who are very picky gardeners turn out to be our best sources of awfully cheap -- as in, FREE -- plants.
We salvaged a four-foot rhododendron from a neighbor's recycling pile. The poor rhodo's fault: wrong flower color. (That's the rhodo to the left with pale pink flowers.) Another rhododendron (lower right in the photo, still in a pot) is another cast-away freebie from another neighbor. This plant looks sickly, and perhaps why the neighbor gave it away. But after being potted with some great soil from our compost mixed with store-bought potting soil, this rhododendron will survive and become a beauty. We don't know what color is its bloom, but who cares, it's FREE. Since we have already potted it, we can always plant it later where it would look gorgeous with the rest of the blooms and planting.
From the same neighbor, we got a weak-looking barberry bush tucked along a shaded wall of her otherwise sunny covered deck. We transplanted the bush to a sunny part of our common fence - she still enjoys her barberry while we get to keep it and nurture it to a robust 8-ft sentinel.
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