Gardens of Opportunity

There's a lady I've never met--or even seen, but every few months she throws out her spent plants, leaving them on top of her garbage bins.

Scavenger that I am, I take them. My resurrection success is about 75%.

I've come to profile the person who throws them out. This woman lives in a high end neighborhood. It has to be a woman because she only throws out small plants. And while she hires people to mow her lawn and trim the hedges, she likes to putter with these small flowering plants by herself. 

But this woman has a dark side. She likes only pretty things. Once her plants lose their blooms or become leggy, she tosses them. Nearly everything she's thrown away could've been saved. They can be pruned, repotted and allowed to flower again next year. I have to assume she prefers instant gratification.

I say, kudos to her anyway. I admire her grit even if she does live in a million dollar home. She likes to get her hands dirty and that's someone I can admire.

And I'm not proud when it comes to plants. If you're tossing them, toss them my way. I like a challenge. 

I do have a very good friend who lets me rob her of her baby plant volunteers. The last of my ajuga died in the killer freeze of 2022. She let me take a few stragglers that popped up away from where they were initially planted in her beds. I've kept them alive all last year. I plan to replant them in their permanent bed as soon as this winter is over. 

While I was in Arizona last year, I scored lots of unusual seeds found along trails or my sister's house. Sadly, my plant apps haven't been much help in identifying them. But hey, it's a new plant and I'm always interested to see how it does at our place.

When we're out garage saling, I sometimes pick up dropped acorns. From my last outing, out of twelve, only two sprouted. Not my best germination rate, but I'm grateful to have an oak I currently don't have on my property. Maybe it'll start more shoots after I'm dust and reforest my land.

I'm hoping we've seen the last of winter, but we still have to see what the next five weeks will bring. 

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Bear with me while I continue to make the transition to this blog. Pinterest has been the hardest to migrate since I have to do it manually. It doesn't help that we keep losing internet connection.

Spectrum has finally entered our territory and is offering fiber. I've never been particularly fond of Spectrum's reputation, but constantly losing our signal is enough to make me switch. As soon as I can get a few more things off my plate, I'll give them a call.

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Do you ever profile strangers? I have a quirky habit of creating elaborate back stories for why people do what they do. I guess that's the writer in me.

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