Saturday, November 9, 2019

Winter's Coming

Winter weather arrived this week, in a good way and a bad way, depending on how you look at it.

I have so many tasks piled up from the past growing season, what many would consider bad has actually been good for me. I am reducing some of the work that needs to be done.

It's all because of my plant-collecting gene. What I like in the plant world is not necessarily what others prefer, so I buy in a lot of plants that grow more as annuals instead of focusing 100% on the natives I love.

Take dragon-wing (or angel-wing) begonias. For the past two seasons I have bought in hundreds of plugs to pot up, only to have the finished product sit in their pots, unsold, for months.

It's no fault of the begonias. They're pretty. They grow. Some grow big. But I've only got room for so much.

Succulents are a different story. While I have only one native variety, which I haven't offered for sale yet, I also have others that can take the cold, along with some that can't.

Now, the bad thing to some people is the fact that I make no effort to save the plants that aren't col-hardy when the freezing weather rolls in. We do have some “house plants” that my wife cares for that make their way indoors, but these others I let turn to mush.

All is not lost, however.

The mushy remains and the soil in their pots are recycled into the raised beds that I prepare for growing native stock plants.

And that's a good thing!

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