So you’ve done a little bit of propagating, maybe divided a herbaceous perennial or rooted some cuttings and have a few plants to spare. What nicer thing can there be than sharing your bounty with friends and family? But for this to be a rewarding experience for both giver and receiver there are a few pitfalls to avoid ….
One of the first things to consider is the skill set of the recipient, I know that if I give a cherished little plantlet to Louise, she will research its cultural requirements to give it the very best chance of flourishing. Not so much, Caroline …
I was myself gifted a most lovely Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’ by an experienced gardener friend last year, but it’s tricky. It likes a lot of water but mustn’t sit wet, it likes shade, but also warmth, its stems are very brittle and snap easily, it takes well from cuttings but you mustn’t over-pot the young plants. For me this was an exciting learning curve, but in Caroline’s hands it would have been on the compost heap by now. The parable of the sower springs to mind…,
With my fondness for tender and intriguing sub-tropicals, the next issue is overwintering arrangements. Is there a greenhouse or cool conservatory at the intended new home and is the new owner fully committed to keeping the frost at bay ? Elaine has such a structure at her Eastbourne address, but she still managed to kill one of my treasured tibouchinas …..
Oh yeah, sorry about that, Sis, I thought that in the balmy climate of Eastbourne, it might survive without taking up precious space in my tiny excuse for a greenhouse. I was wrong.
I have found that soil pH to be another area for disappointment. My extremely alkaline chalky South Coast soil might yield more lavenders, buddleias and abutilons than I need, but giving one of these treasures to someone whose
Invasiveness can be another issue. I was glad that I kept Laura’s gift of Amsonia in a pot when she said in a recent post how she was hauling the roots of hers out with a JCB or something. I’m lucky enough to have the care of two gardens and one of them is fairly large, where plants can fling themselves about a bit. Not everyone has the space to be so indulgent with the ‘leaners’ and ‘spreaders’ as I am… I nervously gave a friend a layered cutting of my ENORMOUS wisteria the other day. She assured me that all will be fine, but I wonder if she’ll still be talking to me in four years’ time….
Well, my own joy at sharing plants increases in relation to my level of achievement . I’m quite pleased to share a division (having nearly broken my back dividing it); even more pleased if I’ve germinated sufficient of anything to share them, and frankly if I’ve done something even more clever, like cuttings, I wait until I’m in a crowd before making the offer in an unnaturally loud voice.
I’m generally happy to GET any free plants – and that even includes the ‘marmite’ ones like bergenias; fuchsias; muscari etc and I positively embrace thugs such as loosestrife, Inula and even Sorbaria sorbifolia (even though I’m told I’m basically inviting a maniac to live with me), because I need plants to supplant the grass on my vertiginous, un-strimmable slopes.
But sometimes, just sometimes, someone gives you the equivalent of the crocheted lady for your toilet rolls, and this is a difficult one.
I’m thinking of the Stachys macrantha from Elaine (nauseatingly dull blue); Euphorbia ‘Fireglow’ from a long-ago neighbour (curiously boring as it gathers in profusion), and an un-named Miscanthus from Laura (looks like a wispy grass you could find on any roadside verge IMO).
You might assume I’d have discreetly consigned these to the compost heap, but something happens to you as you get older – in addition to greying hair and sagging bust, one’s affection for friends and family increases dramatically, and there is place in your heart for almost any shared treasure, although if someone gives you Alchemilla mollis you definitely have my permission to hand it back!
Have you got any tales of shared plants or those you’ve shared? We’d love to hear them!
Louise has chosen a plant this week with fabulous September flower power, is beloved by pollinators and combines beautifully with other late summer beauties – no wonder it’s one of her Great Plants this Month:
We are on the brink of another busy time in the
Late summer/ early autumn is the perfect time to collect seeds in your own
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