Plant Swap

What a great idea for avid gardeners! A perennial plant exchange.  At this time of the year as we clean up our flower beds, we inevitably have to divide fast growing or encroaching perennials and I always hate to throw out/ compost a perfectly good plant digging.  This way someone else gets the digging and it starts a new life as a wanted plant in a new flower bed.

This plant swap came a bit early this year, since we had a late spring. Some of my flower beds were still partially covered with snow last week and so many of the perennials are barely showing yet. But the bed next to the house on the east side has been snow free for several weeks and has a head start as does my rock garden bed next to the deck facing south east.  My blue sages (May Night variety) have grown huge there, so I dug out half of one clump for the swap.

The campanula/ cluster bell flowers are encroaching on the purple and white bearded irises along the side of the house, so I dug out a huge clump, separated them and brought them both along, as well as 3 bags of white shasta daisies which I had dug out  of my beds a few days before. This is the first time I didn't bring maltese crosses, but that's only because they are barely out of the ground yet, not because I have them under control now. LOL!

I decided, as I was driving to town that I really didn't need any new perennials other than maybe something short for my rock garden bed to fill in where I had removed the daisies.  But, of course that's not what happened.   Those of you that know me, won't be surprised to hear that I came home with more plants than I left with!  Couldn't resist... call me weak!  :D

I did get the anticipated short little sedum for the rock garden, but also took a rose root (rodeola rosea), a short type of succulent with medicinal purposes, a big healthy "hen & chicks" succulent, 2 perennial poppies and something called "Snow in Summer".  (Snow in summer... what a concept! The very thing that most gardeners DO NOT want! LOL! )

 And I ended up with a different variety of bearded irises, supposedly these are blue... so now once this much needed rain quits, I can go out and find homes for all my new additions.

The grass wars are continuing as usual! The stealth and under handed (or should I say underground) sneakiness and resourcefulness of grass roots never ceases to amaze me!   Just when you think you have it under control.... more pops up over night where you were sure you had already eradicated it...

I have re-dug the same first 3 beds removing more grass out of them and now have began working on (Oh what a mess!) my stack stone bed. The grass roots and baby shasta daises in there are ridiculous!  I do have 2 friends who want some diggings, so they are both destined to get some shasta daisies from me (and probably some maltese cross diggings). The rest I will ruthlessly have to put into the compost...  

And my wonderful husband has agreed to help me start digging a new flower bed this week!

Work, work, work, a gardeners work is never done! :)