Blooming Where I'm Planted

Have you ever wondered just how many times a plant can be transplanted and still thrive? Meet some of the plants I have been blessed to be acquainted with that have had this experience – some on several occasions.

I dug this lovely Bugle Weed (Ajuga Reptans) from my mother's flower bed and planted it in mine 50 miles and approximately 4000 feet lower elevation. At the time, I really didn't give it much thought whether it would survive or not; I simply planted it and it DID survive and thrived in spite of the change in soil and dramatic heat change. Purple flowers of the plant bloomed for me every Spring and again in the Fall. The roots of this plant are shallow and likes to be well watered often. It didn't particularly like the hot sun and I discovered in time that it seemed to move itself under the shade of my rosebush.

Then we moved to a cooler higher climate. I dug up as many of the plants as could fit in my large planters. I was determined it would go wherever I went. I know…  I’m overly sentimental for my own good… but, that’s just me!

Then we moved AGAIN. Not too much difference in climate in the new location but I decided that I would keep my darlings in the pots until I knew where we were going to settle down, buy a house and “grow roots”.

Then we got ready to move AGAIN! This time the climate would be dramatically different than anything these little troopers had ever experienced! We were moving approximately 1800 miles away! As we prepared to leave behind the beautiful state in which I grew up, I found, to my horror, that my beloved Ajuga Reptans – (Fairy Carpet as my mother and I have always called them) was gone!!! My broken heart sank deep into the sandy earth and I cried – literally cried. The only thing I could think of that could’ve happened to them was that they were devoured in the night by a hungry furry critter – perhaps the lone squirrel that would steal the bread I left for my Jay birds and Mourning doves. I can’t imagine that any of the dozens of cottontails that mowed and fertilized my lawn each night could’ve ever been guilty. There was no evidence and no one to charge for the crime. They were simply gone. And not long after, so was my family and I.

I wanted to take every rock, every tree, every mountain, every sunrise and sunset, every star and every person that was so dear to my heart. But, obviously, that was quite impossible and I have only the fond memories and pictures of my purple Bugle Weed.

Whoever would’ve thought that I would’ve ever uprooted and live 1800 miles away! But here we are. Along with all our other possessions, I did manage to bring some beautiful iris bulbs that was given to me by a dear elderly friend we left behind and a houseplant given to me by another friend as a thank you gift for helping THEM to move.

I never knew how many absolutely gorgeous varieties of irises there are! These were dug up by my elderly friend and placed in a bucket where they stayed for quite some time until we finally transplanted them. They’ve since been transplanted again two more times. I’ve shared some of the bulbs with other friends just in case by all our transplanting mine should ever bite the dust.

I had transplanted some of my Fairy Carpet into the same pot as the asparagus! 

Another plant I transplanted a number of times is the asparagus I planted upside down in containers. I wasn’t able to tell which end was the roots so I just planted them. After several weeks of no sign of life, I dug them back out and figured out that I had indeed planted them upside down (perhaps China could use some asparagus?) I was happy I had planted them in containers as it made it so much easier in our moving escapades to take them along. They still had to adjust to climate changes but they did very well – until…. I had to move them so we could paint our house. As I lifted the pots, I heard the most devastating sound: the ripping sound of roots! A few days later, most of the plants turned yellow and died! It took a very long time for the remaining plants to recover. I gave them to a friend of mine when we headed east.

So, I suppose it depends on the type of plant and just how much love and care it’s given whether or not it will survive so many times of being transplanted. Only time will tell.