Plant Swaps, Yard Sales & Other Garden Happenings

As I mentioned in a previous post, I try my best to keep gardening expenses low.  In that regard, the last couple of weeks were very successful. I received  free plants and found several great deals at yard sales.

I am a member of a regional gardening Facebook page. Members share not only their gardening knowledge, but also extra seeds and cuttings. Recently I swapped a curry leaf plant for a bunch of cardamom plants. The kind lady also gave me fig cuttings and a huge lemon from her tree. 

Cardamom

I found a YouTube video about propagating fig cuttings and followed the method.  This is how the cuttings looked at the beginning.

Two weeks later ...

They have roots and tiny leaves! I planted several in pots and kept a couple of cuttings in water to encourage more roots.

Another member gave me cuttings of katuk (Sauropus androgynous). I was so excited because I never thought I'd be able to find katuk here. My mom has katuk in her yard, and I love its greens.  I kept one cutting in water and planted others in pots. After several days, the potted ones looked completely dead. I kept watering for a couple of weeks and now they are growing back.

Katuk

I gave extra cardamom plants and several lemongrass plants  to a colleague and another member of the gardening group.

I rarely see plants at yard sales, but last Saturday I found two yard sales with plants. I bought milkweed (Asclepias) , blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis), Mexican petunia (Ruellia simplex ) and four o' clock (Mirabilis), all for less than $4. The lady at one yard sale gave me cuttings of Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia ) for free. At one yard sale I bought a metal rack for $1.

$1 rack and plants from yard sales.

This plant stand was $5. It needs a good cleaning, and I think I will keep it in the front porch.

With recent rainy days, the garden is thriving. The hummingbird tree (Sesbania grandiflora ) had its first flowers. This is the first time I saw red ones. Mom always had trees with white flowers. The flowers don't last long and need to be picked as soon as possible. I used the first several flowers in an omelet.

Hummingbird flowers.

Lemon tree has tiny flowers. I don't expect fruits, the tree is only a couple of feet tall and is still in a pot. I have to plant it in the ground soon.

Just today I saw this season's first bitter gourd. I thought the vines wouldn't survive the cold days, but they came to life several months later.

Bitter gourd.



Mustard greens have bolted. I need to remove them, but I like their pretty yellow flowers.

Mustard flowers.

The more I learn about plants, the more I realize how patient one should be when gardening. Plants have their own schedules. They need our attention and care. I have learned to wait patiently for seeds to sprout, and cuttings to root and every time my patience pays off. 

"A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust." ~  Gertrude Jekyll



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