This past spring digging about in the front lasagna garden I came across live plants buried within on three separate occasions. According to plan they should have composted over the winter but I have since realized that most articles written about lasagna gardens have not been written by zone 3 gardeners and not much composting happened for 5 frozen months.
The lone plant in the bottom right corner (above) was quite substantial and healthy in a bed where I had not planted anything yet. Eventually I found a second one as well.
Curious.
What I had put into the bed however were the discarded plants I collected from the generous folks at Jensens' Nursery, where they allowed me to cart off loads of plant material they had pulled from their display gardens to use in the construction of my lasagna gardens.
I transplanted to the Moon Garden what turned out to be white Dianthus, where they fit in perfectly with the all-white theme (don't worry, those "Broadway Lights" Shasta Daisies above faded from yellow to white).
These stowaways had clearly not only survived the winter but had somehow 'hibernated', and with some warmth from the composting lasagna garden spent the winter without dying back.
Stowaways - who would have thought?
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I've never tried lasagna gardening. I do compost, though. I wonder if you'll have more surprises next spring.
ReplyDeleteI also had a lot of pink petunias that either came from the nursery's yard waste or from the new soil I had added. In either case, lots of volunteers last year!
DeleteA gardening surprise is always fun and I get a lot of them as I know so little about it. I planted mixed native seeds this fall, I can't wait to see what comes up. Have a very Happy and Healthy 2014 Derek.... I bet it is really cold there as it is cold here...Michelle
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle, I can't wait to see some photos of those native wildflowers.
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