When you have a ridiculous number of perennial flower beds, each year you have a lot of dividing to do. For many years I gave our extras to friends, neighbors, co-workers. But most people have limited amounts of space.We were lucky in that we had an acre and a half of land. At a certain point, I decided I'd take the divided plants I didn't want in the maintained beds and drop them on either side of the path in the meadow. These areas are referred to on the map of my previous post as areas 24, 26, and 29.
I'd usually put down a little dirt, and then plopped the plants/roots down. Drop gardening, I named it. I watered them a time or two, and then just let them live or die. Many lived and naturalized. Here are some pictures of that area in all it's glory.
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| day lilies and red bee balm |
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| From the back of the path looking towards the garage and house. |
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| Foxglove, for crying out loud. It loved to naturalize and reseed. |
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| From the path looking west towards area 26 and 29 and a little bit of the veggie garden |
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| In this picture you can see the trumpet vine in front of the garage, and my gorgeous husband. |
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| The path going out to the wetlands. Area 24 on the left, area 26 on the right. |
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| From the back of the meadow looking towards our little veggie garden. Purple bee balm. |
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| Day lilies, the wild kind you find in the ditch along side the road. We also had hybrids in the maintained beds - later for that. |
Sorry, I don't seem to have pictures of spring when the dames rockets were in bloom, and I don't think I captured the purple cone flower (which never did as well as the other drop flowers). Oh well. I know they are there.
Isn't it marvelous how resilient the plants are?
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteGlorious! I'm so envious. It looks like Heaven.
ReplyDeleteI gave away a lot of my extra perennial growth, and stuck some under the oaks in what a friend called his "holding" bed and that's how I think of mine; where they go when I don't know where else to put them. Also if they can survive in that shade and with those tree roots, who am I to hinder them?
Back when I lived in a village near Edmonton, there was a country church whose matrons with well-established flowerbeds would, each spring, hold a fundraising sale of all the perennials they had thinned from their gardens. It was hugely popular; lineups at the closed gate would start well before opening time and when it was unlocked we'd all rush in -- so excited -- with our wagons and wheelbarrows, and everything was so dirt cheap it was practically given away. The church made a killing and all those plants found good homes.
What a great memory!
DeleteI like your idea of drop-gardening and am going to do it from now on -- and I have to.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite thrilling when they grow.
DeleteGorgeous. It does look like work but how on earth could you leave that paradise behind?
ReplyDeleteWe wanted to live closer to our daughter's family (2 young grandchildren), who had moved to Florida. Plus, we were recently retired, aging, and wanted to make big changes in our lives.
DeleteWow, you built a piece of heaven. Beyond beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI had only just read your last post and was about to ask to see some pix. Absolutely stunning! I can't imagine the yearly Spring anticipation of enjoying all color and fragrance!
ReplyDeleteI recently "dropped" some reject tomato seedlings on a dirt pile, and they are now doing better than the ones I carefully planted and tended. Of course.
Hooray for drop gardening. When I practiced it with my grandchildren, we called them ditch lilies. We planted them the same way, with a little dirt, down the side of the hill to the creek. Over the years many "took" and are lovely today.
ReplyDeleteWhat a joy to see what you and your husband created together. I'm in awe. It's so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly had a beautiful spread there and it's lovely to have photos to remember it by.
ReplyDeleteHave you done much gardening at your home in Florida?
Wow! You had such a beautiful garden there. (NewRobin13)
ReplyDelete