It pays to think before tossing perfectly good plants into your green waste. In the fall of 2015, I took bulbs pulled and discarded from a municipal display bed and planted them at my client’s rental place. For free. Of course. The municipality, which we don’t have to name, normally doesn’t reuse its bulbs. Tulips, for example, give the best show in season one. Beyond that they’re not as reliable. Other bulbs on the other hand will keep on giving, assuming you don’t get tired of them. Some bulbs, like daffodils, can be naturalized.
Happy 1
My client was totally happy this year when she looked out of her kitchen window and saw her free bulbs popping up. She had no idea what I put in last year. Not bad considering these bulbs were free, took only minutes to plant ( I have had lots of practice!) and improved bare spots.
Free bulbs!
Not bad considering these bulbs were discarded; and the bed was a weedy bare spot
Happy 2
The Rhodos and Hydrangeas pictured below came from a strata landscape edit job and were delivered to a gardener in Port Coquitlam. The owner will find a good home for them on her large property. In exchange for the free plants, the property owner gave us a quick tour of her garden; the property is on the annual Port Coquitlam garden tour circuit. It’s good to give!
Homeless Rhodos and Hydrangeas
Garden tour pictures
Astilbe hedge!
Clematis vine with (correctly!) protected base
$200 plastic planter box; doesn’t rot like wood but you need deeper pockets to buy these
Chainsaw decoration; I prefer 2016 Stihl models
Gunnera
tools!
primrose
I have some crazy stories about unwanted plants. On one memorable day, a prominent strata member came out to ask me to remove Echinacea because they were spent. I reminded her they were perennials and would bloom again next year. It didn’t matter. Next year was too far away and she had cash for new plants. I kept a few and gave away the others.
Think before you toss unwanted plants. You could make someone very happy!
