i had trimmed some of my crown of thorns one fall, and set aside the cuttings to dry in the plant closet. well, they promptly got forgotten and sat in there in the dark for probably 6 months. lo and behold when i was cleaning it out come spring, i found them, not only still alive, but trying to bloom! put them in vase(sans water) and enjoyed them. i tucked them in the garden after they were through and let them be there til the fall when the frost came and killed them. i have more than i need, and didn't want any more plants. certainly are hardy buggers, though! tammy

Tammy, that is pretty impressive! It cracks me up that some stuff that you try to propagate from cuttings can be such a bear and your trimmings set aside for drying set blooms in a closet. Maybe you need to head over to the plant propagation forum and announce your method. If I fail with my mom's viburnum again this year, I'll give your method a try. Haha!

Meredith

lol. i wouldn't recommend it for anything but succulents, that's for sure. :) tam

Tammy can attest to this "survival of the fittest" story.

Last winter I started a packet of globe artichoke seeds. The packet had a germination test results stuck to it like a sticker. It said to expect 66% germination, so I planted all the seeds. I assumed that half of them would sprout and that I would be lucky to grow any of them to maturity. Well every single one of those 200 seeds sprouted. I had flat upon flat of fast growing silver leaved seedlings. I planted some outside, I gave some away, I sold some at the flea market, I traded some at the swap... and managed to kill a few of them along the way. In the end I had a few that I ended up using in the garden display at the state fair (a plot shared with Tammy, who is my neighbor). Tammy was sorta guiding me on my Globe Artichoke journey, since she had experience growing them in the past. The ones at the fair plot did great and got very big but never bloomed - even though this variety was supposed to bloom its first year.

At the end of the fair Tammy and I were tearing down the display and when it came time to dig up the monster artichokes they sorta ripped out of the ground without much roots. The resulting withered mass pretty much got tossed to the side during the next few days while I planted my favorites. Weeks later I found them still alive under a pile of strawberry plants also dug up in haste from the fair display. I planted them in well ammended soil in the veggie garden and figured I'd be lucky if one of the three survived. I then had to spend a month away from home tending to my injured father back in Oklahoma. When I returned I discovered that all three had set down roots and had tripled in size. So far, so good. But I have to tell you, if they don't flower this year I'm yanking them out, space is a luxury in my yard and its a "perform or die" kinda place - of course I fully expect them to survive in the compost pile!

I had cannas that I had dug up several years ago in anticipation of transplanting - then my late husband got very ill and gardening got put on the back burner that summer and winter - followed by one year of checking out on life after he passed away. Last year when I started 'living' again I noticed the pile and they were sprouting leaves - the little buggers had sent down roots and even tho the tubers were above ground they managed to survive two winters. They are now the inspiration and background along with a couple self seeded hollyhocks of a whole NEW perennial border measuring about 70x10 - it is my 'back to life' garden :):)....

Lynne

yup- i can vouch for john's story. i was the one who yanked the poor things up. and not only do they look good, but he amanged to divide them, and there are now 5 clumps, right, tj? i loved them in my yard- they are so artchitecturally beautiful! in my experience, i never got one to bloom the first yr. they should bloom late this spring into summer, and will likely die after that- though you might get one more yr. i think it depends on how much the plant exhausts itself. plus i don't think they like our humid hot summers. i got 2 fruit seasons out of one of mine once. i think they do better in sandy soil in the long run, because they can't abide by too much moisture. mine rotted in the clay soil. of course, the only one i had survive the drought last yr was in the clay- but if we get a wet yr, i bet it'll be gone. i'm lucky because i have some sandyish soil as well as clay, so i can pick and chose where i want what plants that will suit them best to some degree.

lynne, what a nice story. it's amazing how healing a garden is to a hurting heart.

Last spring while on vacation, my poor rosemary topiary apparently gave up the ghost due to no water and the small concrete planter it was in, so I just pulled it up and tossed it into the woods behind the herb garden. Just before christmas, I was preparing to move from Atlanta back to Raleigh and was out in the garden trying to decide what to bring with me when I spied a mass of grey-green out in the woods. I never would have expected that the rosemary I threw out had resurrected and was doing great in the woods lying on top of the ground. Of course, that plant has made it into the new herb garden...

Zoesdad, That is so great. It gave me a good chuckle on this dreary day. My then-boyfriend, now-husband and I were dividing a packed iris bed for an ailing friend about 8 years ago and we threw some of the corms in the woods that we just couldn't find space for. They took too and bloomed beautifully for a few more years, pulling themselves to the depth they wanted to be, I suppose. I am loving these stories everyone; thanks so much for all of them.

Meredith

a couple of years ago i had some construction work done around my house. the contractor had no choice but to dump a bunch of concrete rubble and rocks on top of two of my hostas (sieboldiana elegans). (it was late fall; the hostas had died back and the contractor didn't know they were there.) for the next two years i left the rubble where it was; i had already accepted that the hostas had "sacrificed" themselves. well, two springs later i went and bought two replacement hostas. i meticulously picked out all of the concrete rubble and rocks and to my surprise i saw signs that my hostas were trying to grow through the rubble. i was shocked! they easily grew to full size (gigantic) and have done just fine ever since.

pat
durham NC