Pass-along plants time

According to the calendar, Fall is around the corner in another week. Now is a great time to divide those plants that are crowding out others, or it didn't blend in with your color theme, or it got too tall, or you didn't like it for whatever reason; maybe somebody else will like it.

We have community gardens here for the residents and there are some really nice garden plots; both vegetable and flowers or both. They have a table where you can donate any plants that you wish to share. This is the second time that I've shared plants there and as soon as I pulled up this morning and started unloading, a lovely lady saw me as her plot was close by and walked over and saw them and asked if I was giving them away? She walked over to her plot, grabbed her wheelbarrow and proceeded to carry on a nice conversation with me as she's loading up her wheelbarrow. I told her that I would be dividing other plants and if she wanted to come and see what else I had, she was welcomed to stop by the house. I told her about our plant swap at Jill's and she didn't know there was such events in the area.

Hopefully she will stop by as the Zagreb coreopsis needs dividing, and some others. I could give more columbines away, some BES, a white scabiosa, the pin moss rose needs also. With all the rain we've had, and cooler temps, it has started to rebloom. Malva Zebrina can be shared too.

If you have extras, why not share with others. A lot of towns have community gardens..maybe you can share with some gardeners/plot owners there. Maybe there's a plant sale going on to raise money for a specific project. Why not pot up some of your extras and donate it to the cause? Maybe you might find a plant that you've been looking for and get it for a reasonable price.

Sounds like you've made a new gardening friend! :-)

I share extras with friends and neighbors, but there are things out there that are "common" enough that most people who want them already have them... divisions would still probably be welcome for garden beds at churches or retirement communities.

A nice suggestion, Pippi.
Anyone who visits my yard should know that I'll share practically anything. Hey, going to a ladies lunch Saturday (they invited me even tho I'm no ladyLOL) I should pop a few pots in the van, there is at least one other plantaholic coming- I have to get with her and get some more genetic diversity in my yard--and you guys will get it too in a few seasons!

The biggest factor in donating plants to a facility that has none is the future maintenance. Beleive me, I've been thru this. Daylilies and Autumn Joy tho are two very easy for maintenance and eay to grow and plant.

For those who haven't seen it, there is a great book called "Passalong Plants"

http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=463

Yep, familiar with it and if you look on that cover, one of the authors is Felder Rushing who has his own website. Felder makes some unique things with flowers and garden junk. He hosts a radio talk show on gardening down in Mississippi. Google his name and his website will come up. It's full of humour, inspirational ideas and beautiful flowers. Felder is a celebrity in his own "neck of the woods."

I love sharing my plants.

We love you sharing your plants too

snicker snicker

LOL You are pretty good about sharing your plants, too. Sally.

Daylilies anyone? Liriope? Virginia creeper? Wisteria? Bee balm? Shasta Daisies? Coneflowers? I'm your ticket.

Oh, Holly--wanted to tell you. I planted some of the Morning Glory seeds I got from the swap last year. Some of them volunteered this year. Heh, heh. Wonder how you had so many seeds. The MG's were great colors. Thanks!

You are welcome Foxy. Thanks for the plant offer, I have plenty for this year. I was thinking the same thing a few weeks ago some of my DL could use dividing.

Felder's site is PRICELESS, and here is a link to it, so you can see for yourself:

http://www.felderrushing.net/

Hi Fay and all - Thanks for the thread Pippi. Gosh, until becoming a member of Dave's I didn't realize that plants sent through the mail was a really cool way to share also. I cannot count the amount of boxes that have shown up at my place from Dave's members nor can I count the ones I have also shipped out from here.

I am here in hopes that someone has a bit of a house plant to possibly share with me via the mail service before it gets too much colder. I am in the market for some Purple Passion and would gladly pay, trade or be indebted to someone who feels they have enough to share.

My supply has dwindled to hardly nothing and there is no guarantee the little I have will survive the winter, so I am hoping by putting the word out, I might find someone willing to share.

I love going in to my plant room and looking around and seeing so many of the beautiful plants that have come mainly from Gita, but also Sally and Holly too. So far everything is doing well with its move indoors a few weeks ago.

Hope that everyone reading will enjoy the weekend coming up.

Ruby

Ruby, our box stores, especially Home Depot, has the ppp in 4" pots for $3.98 - maybe yours has some.

Kay, our HD has them here, too

So, Ruby if you'd like me to pick up some for you (I pass by every day) just Dmail me your address.

Today I am packing up and shipping out an assortment of coleus cuttings that people have requested for over wintering. I have some extras if any here are interested. Just D mail me your address Here is the Dmail I sent on Monday.


This week I will be taking cuttings from my coleus plants and will again have cuttings to share. They should be ready to ship this weekend. All are named varieties.

Please indicate your interest by return Dmail and include your name and mailing address.

Quanities are a bit less than last year so first come first served.

Also looking for those willing to send some cuttings to me in the Spring as an exchange.

Happy growing and hope to hear from you.

Judy

PS Can also share cuttings of plectranthus "Mona Lavender" the blue flowered swedish ivy in photo with coleus bouquet. lmk

Thumbnail by coleup

Judy, you are a Sweetheart!

Thanks gals. Hmmm.....let me make a trip to Lowe's and Home Depot tomorrow when I will be out anyway. I will report back Coleup and may take you up on the offer to mail some if I need you to purchase them for me. Please be assured that I will reimburse for plant cost plus postage and may even send you a plant or two if you would give me some ideas of the what you may be looking for.

Good to see you hanging out with us Mid Atlantic Gardeners Kay. I always love reading a mainly regional forum and then have folks I have met in other forums show up here too. I recently did a swap with someone in Las Vegas who was reading the Mid Atlantic threads. So very cool.

I will get back and let you know if I will need assistance. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Ruby

lol Kay,

If I can't go to Florida for the winter at least my plants can!

Judy

BeaUtiful Coleup. I might want to get in on the Coleus thingie too, but will let you know tomorrow or Sunday if that won't be too late.

Thanks.

Ruby

Yipee Ruby, I remember your swap request and would love to pass some of my favorites along to you and John.
I have a trailer that would do well as a hanging basket plant in an East facing window where it stays above 50 degrees. Keep it alive and you can get lots of cuttings come warmer weather.

I'd send it trimmed back (some arms are over 4' !} with most soil removed (weight) if you have a pot and soil for its new home ( 8")

Only limiting factor time wise is the temperatures as coleus are tropical plants after all. We should be good for another few weeks...as they should only take 2-3 days to arrive almost anywhere in US or Canada.

So send those addresses for these old fashioned passalong plants!

Don't we all remember the ones from our Grandmas and aunts houses? I do.

Judy

How nice it is so much fun swapping plants. I will have to wait till spring for coleus. Too crowded here for cuttings.

Holly,

How about a whole hanging basket instead of cuttings?

Shamelessly,

Judy

PS, Trailers are easier to keep as whole plants over the winter as they already have strong root systems! Fully mature plants, not cuttings.

Oh thank you so much but I am ruthlessly deciding on what comes in and what doesn't. I always get coleus plugs in the spring for just a few $ from my HGHA so I never take cuttings from my coleus. I do like to trade in the spring for varieties that I don't have, though.

great tip, Judy, thanks... I was just looking at a pair of trailing little coleus plants in a railing planter and thinking that I should pop them into a little hanging basket instead of just taking cuttings, because they were still so pretty!

jill- thats the evil side of your wonderful sunroom- got to be so tempting to have 'just one more plant' tee hee!

It's horrible - ya, just one more plant will be ok - not! I have a sunroom, covered in plastic and heated AND a greenhouse and I still don't have room to bring everything in - both places are FULL! You know the sales this time of year are tremendous - 50-90% off - how can an addict RESIST?!!!

I went to a local nursery yesterday on a field trip with Lilies School and I went inside to pick up some insecticide. I was very careful "not" to walk down the isiles of houseplants while I was there.

And its like packing for a trip. If I get ready too soon, I just keep finding more things I want to take.

If my cart hadn't filled up with so many half-price perennials at DPF last week, I probably would have come home with a couple of reduced-price houseplants. But Jim was already giving me the old hairy eyeball, LOL.

Sally, the geraniums you gave me rooted very nicely! I put a few of them straight into the ground, and most "took." I put the rest of the half-rooted cuttings into 2 pots, and I planted them out this morning -- couldn't believe they filled a gallon pot with roots that quickly, but they were ready! Thank you. Hope your 'Biokovo' cuttings did likewise!

COnfession time---Biokova had a rough start, somehow got slightly forgotten in the shuffle. Shame on Me letting them sit in a bag for a couple days. But being hardy gernaniums, I knew they'd be fine, Planted em right up and now they look GREAT!

Yup I use the Holly method--blinders! and sometimes I am grateful to the spouses that force method to our madness.

I have quite a few Swedish ivy plants in the mixed containers and I just hate tossing them out. Then there are the two big pots with Warneckei and asparagus ferns not to mention those big Hibicus pots and the blue strawberry jars with the tender succulents.

I'm glad you were able to work some decent cuttings out of that border tangle, Sally... thanks for being willing to "u-pick" when I ran out of time before the swap! 'Biokovo' is a toughie, for sure.

Holly, I have a big trailing asparagus fern too. Last couple winters were a hassle. Last week I took it out and planted it in the yard. It is lives fine, if not fine. I did see them used as landscape plants in Vegas.
Of course, I took some of the soil of the rootball, and yesterday took some of those little tubers things from that soil, and made a little pot...Sigh. They might sprout and make me a nice little Asp fern for next summer.
I just came in from gazing at a little pot with tender succulents. I know it will 'etiolate' in my house and get ugly, but may freeze outside. ... Sigh.

You could pot it up and give it away as a gift if you have anyone that would like it. I did that for Christmas one year. They made nice gifts.

Report on last Saturday's shopping spree. It didn't start out being called a shopping spree but before I was done, that is the only word that fit. I knew that I had a long list of items to buy at the Dollar Tree. I didn't know that it be two buggies full though.

Before going to the dollar store, I went in search of the Purple Passion plants that Cole and Kay told me they had seen in their local Home Depots. Being a Lowe's fan, I decided to try there first. Nope, no purple passion but they did have a rack of 90% off succulants that I purchased several of. I also purchased several small pots for just over a dollar each that I will use next year to plant in and sell.

I then proceeded to Home Depot and found two small PP's hiding amongst the other houseplants they had. I purchased them as well as three small cups of Viola which I haven't yet planted. I planted one of the PP in a pot where I already have some that are struggling, but will hopefully decide to perk up and grow beautifully for me soon. The other stronger looking one of the two I potted in its own pot and a week later both are holding their own. I also snipped off several of the leaves and stuck them in soil the way I have started other plants in the past. Hopefully they will live. Funny that in the past when I had no particular reason to have them do well, they did wonderfully.....now that I want them to do well, so that I can sell them, I am not having my previous luck. Anyway....such is gardening.

Oh gosh.....just the mention of Jill's sunroom makes me drool. When I win the lottery, a room exactly like that is my first purchase. I absolutely loved it Jill.

Kay, I am right there with you on finding homes for houseplants. Due to potting up plants to send to the Farmer's Market this past summer, I was left with over two hundred pots. John guessed one day that I had over three hundred on the side porch and he went out to count and stopped at two hundred. Anyway.......I have loaned some of them out for the winter. Our local Pharmacy is supplying a front window to display about ten pots for us. So far have sold four of the plants there.

For those of you who have met John you know he has no problem meeting and starting conversations with just about anyone. He somehow talked a clerk at a small grocer that he frequents to board another ten or so plants for us this winter. What a nut I live with. Anyway......our house is pretty full of plants currently. I am trying to do better maintaining them than I have in the past. Most of yesterday afternoon was spent changing water in the vases where many of the plants are living. I was able to pot up a few plants and put the cleaned vases away until they are needed again. I now hope that my efforts pay off and the plants live.

Here is hoping that each of you will have a great week coming up. Stay warm y'all.

Ruby