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txhoneydarlin -> Pass along plants (4/24/2008 12:04:14 PM)

(I posted some of this in another thread and thought I'd post it here too. I love the whole idea behind it!)

Last Friday, I attended a workshop about landscaping with native plants. The speaker happened to be my 4th grade teacher's daughter - she spoke about a wonderful idea, which unknowingly, I had already kind of put into practice. I've always been resourceful and dug up plants when I could, transplanting them from pastures and yards into mine, lol. At any rate, the speaker's idea was to ask family members and close friends for "pass along" plants...

I thought I'd share my list with y'all to give you an idea about how to get your own pass alongs and maybe to start a neat family tradition, rich with memories and love. [;)]

Here's a link to some pictures of my gardens and birds if you want to see them. I need to take pictures of the three garden areas I put in this week to add to this album. (On a side note, which I'm sure most of you know already - planting a variety of plants brings in a big assortment of birds and butterflies. [;)])

I have irises, several lantanas and cholla cactus from my Mimi (my grandmother who passed in 1997) - the cholla was given to her and my Papaw (my grandpa on Dad's side) by my Aunt Dot (my great-aunt, Mimi's sister) - the cholla originally came from Ft. Davis; easter lilies from Granny Velma (my great-grandma on my mom's side - Granny Velma gave them to Nana - my grandma on Mom's side; Nana shared them with me); cannas, the strawberry cactus and some of my century plants from my Aunt Dot; mock orange bushes from my Aunt Mattie Lee (via my Aunt Betty, both are my great aunts and my Mimi's sisters); day lilies from my Aunt Martha (another sister of Mimi's; she passed when I was still in my teens - but they are via Aunt Betty); red sage, ephedra, vinca, some wildflowers and some other lilies from my Aunt Betty; ****ly pear cactus, lechugilla cactus, some sort of vine (it's not been identified yet rofl) and yucca from my parents; ****ly pear cactus from the hunting lease my cousin Jimmy (my Papaw's sister's grandson) and I hunt at; and monkey grass and wildflowers from my Nana. I also got my first bluebonnet seeds from a lifelong friend of mine at church - now I have a whole side yard full of bluebonnets! I've talked to my mother-in-law, and the next time we visit them, I'm taking my shovel. She has some neat native plants on her place that she has promised I can dig up and bring home - and she's starting some hanging basket plants for me as well. I also want to get some starts from the plants that Shawn's (hubby) granny has - she has a neat little sunroom as well as some other native plants at her house. I'm supposed to be getting some "horse crippler" (aka devil's pincushion) cactus from Shawn's boss too. All the rocks you see in the pictures have come from our three "family" farms, my Nana - or from friends, and last night, our old boss promised us two pallet loads of rock - we just have to go get them (they run a rock business - but we're getting ours free - yay!!). I want to call some of my other family members to see what they've got to share - and of course, I share my plants with them as well.

On another note, my passion flower vines (which I purchased when I attended some out-of-town training at my old job) are the host plant for Gulf Fritillary butterflies; we raised about 300 of them last year, and Pais (my daughter) got to watch the caterpillars building their cocoons and the butterflies emerging from them. It's a great "teachable moment" to show her what pretty butterflies God gives us! Last Friday, I bought some mealy blue sage as well - it's the host plant for Queen butterflies, so maybe we'll have more butterflies this year or next. I guess my whole yard is a work in progress, lol.

Going outside and tinkering in my gardens, sitting outside and visiting with friends, looking at my gardens - it's all such a different experience since I started getting (and thinking about) these pass along plants. Just seeing them and thinking about all the folks involved in my gardens brings back so many happy memories - and makes me feel surrounded with love!

Thanks for letting me share. [:)]



Auben -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 5:17:05 PM)

It's illegal in my state to take wildflowers off of public land (and of course its just rude to take it off private land without permission).

My mother and I have been passing flowers around though, especially the kind you need to divide occasionally like hostas, black eyed susan, and other prairie-type plants. Its fun.



txhoneydarlin -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 5:58:10 PM)

Are you allowed to get seed from wildflowers at least?

Here in Texas, there is a neat place called Wildflower Seed Farms. They are in Fredricksburg, and they sell flower seeds worldwide. I've never gotten to visit there, but I get their catalog each year - I think we're actually going to visit them this summer, finally.

I love black-eyed susans! They are gorgeous!



42servehymn -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 6:03:25 PM)

My husband is the gardener in our house. When we moved into this place 4.5 years ago he took one look at our little yard out back (about 8X10 feet) and envisioned an amazing flower garden and a pond then he made it happen. I will post a link to photos when he gets home in a few hours. Probably 80% of what is back there is donated from other gardeners. We snagged some hollihock seeds from a neighbors plant. Another friend gave us some seeds for 4 O'clocks. A client of mine gave us some cattails for the pond. We have 3 LARGE rocks back there that we traded work for with another client. It is fun to watch it grow and change and mature back there. We hope to start a pass along day for fellow gardener wannabe's in the community.



txhoneydarlin -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 6:11:33 PM)

That's a great idea. I just joined the Garden Club here - I think they have a pass along program, although it's informal.

I can't wait to see pictures! [:)] I bet it is absolutely gorgeous! Have the cattails been easy to grow? (I have access to some, if I ever get a pond built, but I have no clue about them at all.) How did your husband come up with the pond plans and stuff? Do you keep it heated in the winter? And do you have koi in it and stuff or just water?



42servehymn -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 8:08:24 PM)

When we got the cattails my husband put them in plastic baskets (like the kind strawberries are packaged in) and weighted them with stones and sunk them in the pond. They have been very low maintenance from there. We bought the goldfish at the pet store for about 19 cents each and over the years they have grown to the point that they could now be considered koi. The first winter that we had fish we made the mistake of not dissembling the waterfall. We ended up with an ice dam and the water was draining backward into the yard. By the time we realized what was happening the fish had all died. The following year we brought the fish inside and had them in a tank. Last year we asked the experts and some recommended a heater but others said as long as we kept a hole in the ice so bad gases could escape the fish would do fine. So we took the hose from the waterfall and made sure it was sticking out of the water several inches. That was last year and we had record snowfalls here and everything was fine. We did the same thing this past winter and again had no problems. We also have rocks in the pond plus some of the plants around the edge of the pond grow down into the pond. We have had good luck with water hyacinth too. We tried a lily pad but it died. I think we will try that again this year.



agapetos -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 8:13:56 PM)

quote:

I've always been resourceful and dug up plants when I could, transplanting them from pastures and yards into mine, lol. At any rate, the speaker's idea was to ask family members and close friends for "pass along" plants...

quote:

It's illegal in my state to take wildflowers off of public land (and of course its just rude to take it off private land without permission).
I agree...

Please, if you're thinking of taking cuttings from somewhere, find out if you're actually allowed to ~ legally, or as Auben said, out of politeness.

I've passed cuttings on to friends when I need to divide a plant.



Auben -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 10:29:46 PM)

I have noticed that when walking around the neighborhood in the evenings that if you ask most people for a few seeds from their flowers they will usually give them to you.



txhoneydarlin -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 11:09:50 PM)

I'm always glad to share. I guess I'm lucky since we have three family farms here at home - I politely ask my parents, my Papaw and my Aunt Betty if it's okay with them, but they all laugh at me for asking and wave me on to do my bidding. [8D]

42servehymn - What a neat deal! I hope you don't mind me sharing this with my hubby to see if we could do something like this. We rarely get snow where we live, so it sounds like it would be perfect. Have you ever heard of umbrella grass? It's some neat stuff and will grow either in water or in the ground - you may want to consider it for your pond too. [;)]



jodavi -> RE: Pass along plants (4/24/2008 11:33:44 PM)

I usually have plants coming from a couple of neighbors and my Mom. The house that we moved in 3 years ago, for some reason, according to a neighbor, decided to pull out all the plants in the front yard and the back yard so pretty much we had some not too good looking shrubs and trees but then over the years with some plants from neighbors and my Mom's, our yard's starting to look better. I also found out- I joined freecyle early this year- that there are a lot of people who are offering all kinds of plants so I have picked up a couple of day lilies and 3 hostas.



txhoneydarlin -> RE: Pass along plants (4/25/2008 12:05:14 AM)

Speaking of freecycle, how would I find out if there is one near where I live? I have heard of it before from out-of-state friends, but had totally forgotten it as a resource. Are you enjoying your work in progress (your yard)? [:)]



jodavi -> RE: Pass along plants (4/25/2008 12:14:11 AM)

Go on freecycle.org then it will have a search for your community. Check it out. It's a great way to pass a lot of plants and even some landscape materials that some people wants to get rid of.



42servehymn -> RE: Pass along plants (4/25/2008 8:58:43 AM)

We were working on posting a link to our flickr account with all our pics but couldn't find the passwords. We will work on it again this afternoon. I will google umbrella grass and see if it would work for our pond.



txhoneydarlin -> RE: Pass along plants (4/25/2008 12:52:37 PM)

Jodavi - Thanks. I found it and registered. [:)]

42servehymn - I can't wait to see the pictures. There are some pretty good links to umbrella grass here and here, if you want to see what it looks like and read a bit about it. Apparently, it is also known as umbrella palm as well - a fact I was unaware of. [;)]



42servehymn -> RE: Pass along plants (4/25/2008 2:06:59 PM)

We spent all morning and we think we have figured out how to do this. Here is a link to our pond pictures from beginning to last year.



42servehymn -> RE: Pass along plants (4/26/2008 11:45:20 AM)

I showed the umbrella grass to my husband and we both loved it. I just don't know how well it would work out here in our dry climate. It is really neat though.



txhoneydarlin -> RE: Pass along plants (4/26/2008 11:51:55 AM)

I planted my umbrella grass years ago - I never water it, just let the rains take care of it. It seems to thrive.

I love the pictures [:)]- the water hyacinth is simply breathtaking! What an awesome transformation of your yard from what it first was to what it is now! Wow!! Thank you so much for sharing these - I'll show them to hubby when he comes in from the father/son campout at church. Maybe they will motivate him to help me build a pond soon! [;)]



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