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Garden Delights

A selection of thoughts and ramblings about life in the garden.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Columbine-the gift that keeps giving

Today I went to a friends house to identify some plants I had given her, and to collect some plants to take to New Mexico.
There were only three plants to identify.
As usual, she had more plants waiting for me than I expected.
Way more plants.
Among other things, she literally had buckets of columbine for me.
I'm not kidding folks. I brought home a six gallon bucket full of colombine, and at least six gallon pots loaded with it.
Colombine is just one of those gifts that keeps on giving.
A rather humble plant, it isn't terribly picky about where it grows. And it comes in a wonderful array of colors, like the lovely red and yellow variety in the photo. Though often short lived, it self sows profusely.
Which is why I ended up with buckets of it.
As I loaded it in the back of my vehicle, I became very scared. They seemed to take up the whole back end. All I could think of was that I already have a table, chair and bookcase that need to go west with the wagons. How on earth am I going to fit all those plants in, with the furniture (which takes top priority), and still have room for the greenhouse full of plants in the photo below?
Oh. And luggage for a family of four for nine days.

Very carefully.

Good thing I'm an expert packer.

The colombine (most of it at least) will be a gift for my sister that will hopefully keep on giving.
Along with a bag of canna lilies I rescued from the bus barn.
They were another gift that keeps on giving.
A friend offered them up for grabs last fall. They had multiplied profusely, as they do so well, for her step-father and he was looking for a home for them. Two of us were takers.
I put mine in my garage.
The other lady left hers in the heated bus barn on the gravel floor.
Mine were looking not so good when I planted them a couple of weeks ago.
The other lady had surgery this spring and forgot about hers.
I remembered.
Guess whose looked better.
ALL of the ones wintered in the bus barn were in perfect condition.
Guess where I'm storing mine next fall.

So now I have even more plants to make the trek to the high desert.
Good thing the U. S. Postal Service has priority mail.

Plants tend to make the rounds.
Mother Nature has made sure all of her little subjects survive. Most of them do it by multiplying rather rapidly.
Which is good if you like sharing.
I tend to share a lot.
I figure I've single handedly filled the gardens of at least 10 people by now.
(Soon to be eleven.)
Mother Nature likes me.

Plants: The gift that keeps on giving.

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