Saving Neglected Plants So They Will Live Another Day, Week, Year..

Neglecting greenhouse plants happens frequently. You see it at Wal-Mart, Loew's, Home Depot and other stores. It happens all year long in the big box stores and in the private greenhouses when the plant buying season starts to taper off. For this reason, I go on a plant-saving mission, looking to get good plants who just need some love, at a discounted price. I save paying full price for the fancier, more rare or showy plants but have found some very viable, beautiful varieties that were just about to be thrown out, then working a deal with the vendor to sell them at a reduced price. Sometimes they just give the plants away, since they feel that they're going to die. But the ones I choose are able to be resuscitated..even if they look sometimes quite worn out and too far gone.

When I was younger, I worked in a few area greenhouses, learning tricks of the trade here and there, memorizing names/genus/species, etc. I learned how to bring plants around and how to prune them. So, on plant-saving missions, I dust off the knowledge that managed to stick with me, and find perennials, orchids, tropicals and others that I've worked with in the past..and some that I haven't. What looks like a twig with a few little green leaves at its base can be a thriving, happy plant later on with a little love, good soil and water (or lack thereof..in case of plants that were overwatered nearly to death). I like to use different plant vitamins (especially Super Thrive), plant food and fungicide to give them a boost.


This lovely Asiatic Lily was a ratty, already-bloomed, half-dead plant at Wal-Mart last year. I bought it for a dollar and this year it's doubled in size and has been very happy.

When you think of the time and effort it took to raise those poor, neglected plants..only to let them decline, it's a tragedy. In my twenties, I used to get racks of half dead orchid plants and my apartment was a floral paradise as they grew like crazy and were good as new after some patience (orchids grow slowly). Also, some annuals you see in the stores can be raised year-round in tropical climates, such as Morning Glories, Portulaca, etc. I saw them year-round down in Mexico. Morning Glories grew everywhere as weeds, and after big, tropical rains, they bloomed en masse, in shades of purple and pink. So if you like or save a pretty annual, consider potting it and bringing it inside during the winter. Just care for it as normal, as tropicals love water/humidity. They will reward you with color and beauty during the drab, cold months, and then you can put them outside on your porch in late Spring, or plant in your garden. With a little love and creativity, those throw-away plants you see at stores can be beautiful all year round.


This 5-foot tall double peach flowering Hibiscus tree is recuperating from a fungal problem, and is doing much better as time goes on. It has huge flowers, and lives on my porch in the Summer, then in my kitchen during cold weather. It will grow very large in time. I did it before and the one I used to have before grew so big I planted it in the ground when I lived in Florida, and let it stay there to live out its life in the tropics..where it came from.

Rose Gardening in July

After dealing with health issues of my dad's (dad's doing fine now after a gall bladder removal surgery), gardening has been on my mind pretty much nonstop this month. Something so relaxing and surprisingly good exercise. Probably not aerobic, but it's still exercise. Mom and I are addicted, a life long hobby of the whole family. Recently mom and I checked out the latest sales at area greenhouses. A kind greenhouse owner near me (wish I knew the name of his establishment but it's on Kinsman, near WalMart between Burton and Middlefield) had a few rose bushes that had some "rust" on them. Mom and I like to rescue plants in distress then rehab them and we asked how much they were. He said we could have all four of them, that they needed time and work, which he didn't want to bother with..big, gallon sized plants. Not only a kind gesture, but a great marketing move..I bought a healthy creeping rose bush also, since he did that for us, and went back a few days later and got another one. Mom and I have stripped the plants of the diseased leaves, sprayed the heck out of them with rust killer/fungicide and they look MUCH better. Sparse, but improving. Roses add a splash of elegance to the garden, much better than just having roses by themselves in a rose-only garden.



After reading up on roses and in doing so, found out that a rose expert is called a "Rosarian". I told mom, "If you became a certified expert on roses, you would be known as "Marian the Rosarian" (couldn't resist ;) People even refer to their bushes as "he" or "she"! LOL. I wonder if they give them pet names too. It's interesting, never knew any of this. I'm not the rose naming kind of person, just want to really make them happy and healthy. Had some in our gardens when I was a kid, and it's been years since I've owned a few bushes. Last year I bought a gorgeous miniature peace rose at Heinen's, which is still doing fine. It has the most stunning little yellow flowers with pinkish orange edges. Now there's four more to add to my collection. The big ones are "Mr.Lincoln" variety, the others are creeping roses.

On the way to my dentist's office (which is a half hour away), I usually stop at Lowe's Greenhouse over on Chillicothe Rd in Chagrin Falls, which has an impressive variety of plants, some of which are harder to find. It's really nice how they color code their flowering plants according to bloom color. Another wonderful place is (of course) Pettiti's Garden Center. That place is just addictive, feel like a kid in a candy store. I am a rational adult who doesn't need every plant under the sun. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Next year I'm getting some elderberry bushes, need two different varieties, just like the blueberries. A long family tradition has been dusted off and resumed of making elderberry pies. My grandmother did it, mom does it, and I have, too. Mom and I slog out in the moist, almost bog-like terrain that elderberries grow in and pick them. They are usually situated in a giant patch of poison ivy, too. Last year we got a large quantity of berries then we all sat on the front porch of their house, combing the berries off of their stems. These little rituals are important to me, especially the older we all get. Elderberries are packed with nutritious vitamins and anti-oxidants, and what better way to get our nutrition than pie (not too sweet, the flavor is brought out with a little lemon). Heaven. During our combing sessions, dad and I would let berries roll off the edge of the porch, hoping some would take root in the garden below. To our surprise, one has, and it's a healthy, two-foot tall plant right now. They now need one more, then they will pollinate.

My garden monitors, hard at work.