Saving the Plant

 Last weekend when we dug the trench, the path was going right through this nice plant that we have along the house. I don’t know what it is, the previous owners planted it, but it’s nice, and R was not too keen on destroying it. Naturally this made my life more difficult, because I was going to have to rescue the thing and then put it back in. It would have been much simpler to just trash it, but that’s kind of sad, anyway.

On Sunday morning before the excavator arrived, I got to work. I’ve moved plants before, and found that if you dig deep enough, give them plenty of water, and then put them back in within a reasonable amount of time, you can pull it off. The problem with this plant is that it seems to be dozens of individual plants, which it is not, it just looks that way. It’s some sort of bulb that I think expands its territory.

I had to break the thing up because it takes up about four square feet, and even when I did break it up, it was heavy. The question was, where to keep it in the interim. I used the wheelbarrow and some plastic bins, but it wasn’t easy, only because I was trying to keep them alive. I got most of them out, gave them water, and we dug the trench.

Afterward, I put them back in, though they were uneven and looked a little funny, compounded by the fact that they are three feet tall. R wasn’t so thrilled, not the best addition to Mother’s Day, but she was cool about it because she realized I was working my tail off and tried my best. I figured the most important thing is that they survive, and if they grow a little mis-directional this season, hopefully they’ll upright themselves next year. Wishful thinking? It wouldn’t be the first time.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.