Perennials dug from another garden transplant best
By Amy McDowell
My mom and I once
happened upon a garage sale with dozens of perennials displayed in a
hodge-podge cluster of dirty mismatched pots. The skinny white-haired man
priced the plants at $1 and $2 a pot, and I started snatching them up by the
armload. When he noticed my interest, he offered us a guided tour of his
garden. It was a standard quarter-acre city lot bordered by wide lush perennial
beds on all sides. The flowers overflowed their boundary-line beds into a
couple of island beds surrounding a concrete birdbath with flaked white paint
and a work area set off by splintered railroad ties that looked like the
remains of a long-abandoned sandbox.
As I oohed and
aahed over his garden, he offered to dig up a division of any perennials I
wanted for just $1 apiece. Suddenly I was the proverbial kid in the candy
store, buzzing inside and out at the possibilities. I asked why he’d be so
willing to cut pockmarks into his gorgeous garden, and he said he was being
forced to sell his home. He was positive that the buyers were planning to
“bulldoze the entire place.” I offered him sympathy and he shrugged, squinted
his dark eyes and hurried off to gather empty pots for my selections.
It was a cool August morning, but we were just hours away from the
sweltering midday summer heat. The plants were in good shape, but I wondered
how they’d fare later in the day. I abandoned our plans for a full day of
garage saling and went home to plant my new babies right away. Despite their
midsummer transplant, every one of them thrived in my garden.
In fact, garden-dug perennials almost always fare better than the tender
young perennials sold in garden centers. It’s either because they come from
established plants with mature crowns or because the transplant from garden
soil to garden soil is easier on them than the transplant from lightweight
potting mix to garden soil.
Slip an old bed sheet into your trunk before the spring plant sale
season begins, and you’ll be all set when signs start popping up along the
curbs.
