True confessions. Once I started gardening, I found myself obsessively checking out every garden in sight. Then grilling anyone who looked like they may possibly own the garden to find out what things were, did they have any idea where to get seeds or seedlings? Can I have a clipping from that one? (I still seem to have no clue how to successfully take a clipping, but some have survived. So far...) Did you really want THAT many red lilies? I can take a few off your hands.
It started with Siberian squills. They are these little blue bell shaped flowers that spread like mad in some people's lawns. Occasionally they seem to have originated in a garden and spread outward, sometimes there are just a random few. They bloom in spring and then disappear, and do not seem to do any harm to lawns or other flowers, and they add a sparkle of blue to the lawn for a while. I like them. I had no idea what they were, or how to get them. I suspect that most people who have them don't know either. At least the ones I asked don't. I spent one afternoon walking around and asking until I found someone who felt that they had more than they needed and allowed me to dig up a bunch. I spent almost as much time searching through hundreds of images of blue flowers until I found a name. I believe they are Siberian squills. They have bulbs, but I can't find them in my bulb catalogues (I now have bulb catalogues.) They also don't transplant well, but one or two popped up this spring so I may have more in the future. I was emboldened by my first raid, and have gone on to admire many flowers and plants of friends and neighbours and come out of it with seeds, cuttings and a few extra plants they could spare. I have been tempted to steal a few bulbs from public floral decorations (does the Cavendish/Heywood intersection really need that many red lilies??) but I won't stoop that low.
It is not that I am not spending money on my garden. Inevitably, we have bought earth, manure, peat pots, chicken wire, seeds, seedlings, hoses, sprinklers, tools, sand (I will save that for another post), a ridiculous quantity of beer, lime, mushroom spore, mantis ooths and probably a lot of other things that I can't think of right now. If I were to buy everything I wanted in my garden I would be:
1) bankrupted pretty quickly
2) unable to obtain things that I have no idea what they are called
3) unlikely to find groovy things like siberian squills and orpine (more on that later)
I have found that some people are very generous and have given me amazing things, and lots of advice. Others have happily offered me their extras, including a few things I had not wanted necessarily, like the three hostas from Iulia, but which I took out of desperation because they like shade. I have made my peace with the hosta which is happily thriving in the part of the garden which has killed all other things but goutweed. I have some end-of season promises from those who keep a really tight, neat garden and don't want to leave holes mid-season (thanks mom! I await a poppy or two before the frost!).
I have also become privileged to be invited into some of the most exquisite gardens. One belongs to Alan. He deserves to have his story told. Three blocks from my house, there was a sign on a lawn which said "plant sale." I pass by the house daily and was intrigued by what this meant. After a few weeks, I walked over and rang the bell. Alan is a retired nurse who loves to garden and has the most breathtaking perennial garden. I will at one point ask him if I can photograph his garden and post it. He has climbing roses up to and around his second floor balcony, layers of flowers of all types and colours, many of which I have never seen before. He has for several years been taking cuttings and seeds and bulbs and growing potted indoor plants and outdoor perennials and selling them to passers by. He donates the proceeds to the institute where he once worked. I love this guy! I drooled over his plants, forced my family to chip in to buy a precious few of them for my birthday (pink and purple columbines, a blue bird rose of sharon bush, multicouloured hollyhocks including pink and black and some other stuff whose names I have already forgotten). They are still all babies so not blooming this year, but have had a much higher survival rate than most flowers I have tried in my garden. After visiting every few days with another friend or neighbour or my kids, Alan told me this was the last time he was having a plant sale. He said it was too much work. I nearly cried. I couldn't afford to buy out his stock but I would have if I could. The good news is that he likes me enough that he will let me have some seeds and some cuttings, and promised advice and coaching so I would not kill off his gifts. I am overdue to invite him to see my garden.
An exciting moment for me was when I was actually able to reciprocate and this summer gave friends and neighbours strawberry plants, mint, lungwart, sunflowers, and periwinkle. There is hope for me yet.
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