dirt rich and cash poor {making the most out of what you have}

Since we’ve added a couple of flower beds around our pool, we have a lot of rich dirt just needing some plants,

but unless you hit the sales, buying plants and flowers for large areas is a little pricey.

Do you ever wish you could just go out and blow your whole budget in one day?

Like say… at the garden center?

I do sometimes and then I remember how fun it is to be creative with what I already have

like this lovely variegated Liriope plant in one of my flower beds.

I have three clumps and they really need to be thinned out

I needed some filler plants to fill in some bare spots

a few hours later…

from one plant comes 30 new plants!

So now when we go plant shopping we try to get plants that are not only going to survive the Texas summer, but we also try to get plants that we can separate or propagate, that way we are always able to fill in where we need to without spending a dime.

I was surprised last year when I snipped off a bit of my sweet potato vine and stuck it in water.  Within three days I had roots and within a week that clipping was in it’s own container of dirt and thriving.

Here was this year’s surprise though…

I didn’t plant this!  It came back from last year and not only that, this is one plant.  In the spring I had tilled up the barrel with my hands.  Last year I didn’t want to fill this whole planter with dirt so I back filled with a bunch of leaves for lift, this year those leaves are rich soil, so I was elbow deep when I felt something weird.  I pulled out a sweet potato…I’m not sure why I was shocked by that, but I was.  And then I pulled out two more and hubby tossed them into the compost pile (which by the way now has a lovely vine just like this one) but I guess I left a sweet potato buried in there because this is what grew.  From this vine I’ve already rooted four more starts, just since April.

Another plant that grows like weeds in my yard…

I’ve always called this plant a Purple Heart Jew.  Can you believe they sell this in the garden center?  Come over to my house and get some for free.  It grows anywhere you stick it in the ground.  And that is exactly how you multiply it, pinch it off and stick it in the dirt.  You’re done!

With plants like these you can’t help but think you have a green thumb.

Another great plant for shaded areas that grows where you throw it…

a type of succulent but I don’t know the name.

I got my first start of this years ago from a friend of mine and now it’s growing in several areas of my garden.

I love it…it’s mossy 🙂

I have more but I think you get my point.

I love plants and flowers, but I can’t always run out and fill up the back of my SUV with flats of instant color, so I rely on what I have on hand…or should I say “in the beds”

Oh…wait I do have one more odd gardening event going on in my yard.

Merry Christmas!

Yep this is my Christmas Poinsettia that I nurtured until spring and since I didn’t kill it I thought; “what the heck” so I planted it in a shady corner and what do you know…it’s thriving!  Go figure!

What are you growing in your flower beds this year?

peace.love.rust