One Gardener's Trash...

…is another gardener’s treasure.  My friend and fellow garden blogger Melissa of Dirt & Wine was recently doing some landscaping and re-arranging of plants in her garden and ended up with an excess climbing rose that she needed to get rid of.  Being the great friend I am – I volunteered to help her out ;-)  It is always a thrill to get plants from your friends’ or neighbors gardens, and this was no exception.

I placed the rose in one of my new backyard garden beds, where it will be able to climb up the side of the house once I get a trellis in place.  I amended the soil with some special rose soil from Natural Gardener, along with some compost and watered it in well.  I am very new to rose gardening, so I’m not sure what the best care is for transplanted (or established) roses, so I’m still trying to find out how much and what type of fertilizing would be best for my new garden addition.  I’m open to any recommendations my fellow garden community rose experts – so bring on your tips and tricks!

The rose came with Melissa’s recently purchased home, so she does not know what type of rose it is.  She did send some pictures along so I can get an idea of what it will hopefully look like in the spring, assuming it survives the transplanting.  Does anyone know what variety it may be?  It looks very similar to my current climbing rose bush, but I guess we’ll see in the spring if they are the same or not.

I was given the rose that is on the left.  Thanks again, Melissa, for my lovely new climbing rose!

Neighborhood Co-op

That's what it feels like, at least.  We don't actually have an official co-op, but I have several gardeners in my neighborhood and we frequently trade plants, produce, or baked goods.  It is truly wonderful to have that sense of community - of knowing your neighbors, having some similar interests, and sharing with each other for a greater benefit.

I recently divided my canna lilies and also had extra squash transplants that I was planning to throw away if I couldn't find someone who I could give them away to.  My neighbors, Bonnie and Manny, a sweet couple in their 70's, are some avid gardeners as well, so I offered up my extra cannas and squash plants to them.  In exchange, Bonnie said I could come dig up some bearded irises from her beds.  Really, she would have given them to me even if I didn't give them anything, but it is nice to give back to someone who is giving to you.

I was planning to dig up a few clumps of irises, but I ended up with a full wheelbarrow of pass along plants from Bonnie.  I even had to start declining some plants because I don't think I have enough room in my garden if I took her up on everything offered.

Bonnie with the wheelbarrow of goods that she gave me.

I ended up with about 70 bearded iris rhizomes (two varieties of yellow, a deep purple variety, an "Iris of Old" yellow/purple variety, and some mystery varieties), a few transplants of purple heart and spider plants for the shade garden, a potted succulent, as well as some banana peppers, pomegranates, and pecans.

Trading plants and produce is so much fun - especially with neighbors that love gardening just as much as I do!  Now, time to get all this stuff in the garden...

Dividing Canna Lilies

All the recent rainfall in Central Texas has loosened the soil, making it the perfect time to dig up and divide bulbs and rhizomes.  Our house came with a section of orange canna lilies which have become very overcrowded, so I figured it was time to get digging and dividing.

First, I cut the stalks down.  It makes it much easier to dig up the rhizomes.

Using a shovel, I dug out huge clumps of the canna lilies.  These babies were long overdue for some dividing.  To divide, I first tried to get as much dirt off the roots as possible.  I then started breaking the rhizomes apart, making sure to leave at least one eye or stalk on each plant.

Here is an example of a two-inch piece of rhizome that had two eyes where small shoots were coming out.

Me diligently working on dividing the cannas.

By the time it was all said and done, I had about 200 rhizomes.  I decided to keep about 100 for myself and pass along the other 100.  I gave about 20 each to five of my lucky friends and neighbors.  I love passing along plants for others to enjoy!

I then replanted my cannas.  I planted them about 1 foot apart.  The instructions I read said to plant them 1-2 feet apart.  I had so many, I decided to keep it on the closer side.  It means that I'll have fuller foliage, but that I'll have to divide the cannas again a little sooner.

I had so many that I spaced them out in twice the area they were in before, fitting about 50 rhizomes in the picture above, but that left me with still another 50 to plant, so I decided to plant them along the back of the border, behind the gardenias and pomegranate tree.  Hopefully they look good next year and I won't have to divide them for a few more years!