My gardening and music colleague, Ginny, gave me a box of divided plants she had no place for in her garden. I was very happy to discover what was in the box, it was like Christmas! Some Autumn Joy sedum, bugleweed, yellow yarrow, a lavender and a couple of others. I got them planted in my side garden one day last week.
I love that when (certain) plants get overgrown you can just divide them up and move some over to another area of the garden or give some to a friend.It means you’ll never have to buy another day lily (for instance), unless you spot some tantalizing varieties at the nursery you can’t resist.
I just pulled up a bunch of my bearded irises, took out the old parts and the weeds that had grown up between the rhyzomes and re-planted some of it. The rest is still awaiting a verdict. Will I plant some of it elsewhere? Put it all out front with a “take me home” sign? Not sure yet. The problem with bearded irises is that, as lovely as they are while they’re blooming in early summer, the foliage is totally uninteresting to me. Maybe I don’t have them placed in the right way. Perhaps they could provide contrast to other plants with their long sword-like leaves; but in the spot where I had them, they just seemed to take up a lot of space without beautifying it. A conundrum to solve another day.
Due to the fine weather we keep having here in Montreal, I’ve been able to do a lot of the fall chores bit by bit. Yesterday I took apart the water feature from the deck; planting the perennials (an iris and something else I’ve forgotten the name of!) in the garden and washing out the container. I also divided the papyrus-like plant I always bring in for the winter and replanted it with some new soil. I love that plant because it’s beautiful, but most of all, because it’s practically indestructible; that’s the one trait all my indoor plants have to have in common. I gave the smaller part of it to my friend, Mike, who has a definite green thumb for the indoor garden he tends at his house.
I have come to terms with the lawn situation in my backyard; I am going to keep the larger part as is, so I decided to over-seed it with some of the new loam I ordered for the front and hadn’t used. Unfortunately, I used some seed that has probably been in the shed for over two years and I’m starting to think it won’t sprout. It’s been 9 days already and no sign of life. New seed seems to be required. In the meantime, the weeds have gotten a toe-hold in all that nice new earth I spread out. Oh, well…
Here’s a lovely rendition of Ron Sexsmith’s song, Fallen. Sung by k.d. lang.
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