Gardening in the Era of COVID-19, Part I

Normally this time of year I would be buying pansies and other cool weather flowers and potting them up to place on the porch around our farm house, as well as thinking about what other container arrangements I wanted to pot up as April turned to May. Unfortunately, West Virginia is under a “Stay at Home” order prohibiting all but essential travel. Now, while I consider plants to be essential, I feel that venturing out to buy annuals may not exactly be in the spirit of the Governor’s Executive Order. So, what’s an avid gardener to do when he’s got an itch to scratch? Why, get creative, of course!

I realized last week that I have plenty of perennials coming up now that need to be thinned and divided, and this month is the perfect time to do it. Rather then just throw away those plants for which I have no room in the flower bed, I thought I could find a way to use them in containers around the house. Looking around our farm, I realized that I had a drift of daylilies growing in the woods as well as a bed of purple coneflower that really needed to be divided and thinned. I also has a few leftover gladiolus bulbs begging for a purpose. (This is also the time to divide hostas. Consider using them, as well as ferns, in a container that won’t get a lot of sun.)

I started by finding an appropriate container. On the porch we have an old mineral tub from my dad’s cattle farm that we use for large arrangements. I cleaned out the remains of last year’s plantings and mixed in a few gallons of fresh compost to recharge the soil.

Then, I ventured into the woods to dig up some of the daylilies. I found several healthy specimens, and made sure not to dig too many from one spot. When digging up daylilies, be careful not to break the bulb-like roots.

After gathering the daylilies, I found a clump of coneflower suitable for thinning. (It looks like the lamb’s ear in that bed could stand to be divided as well, but that will have to wait until another post, I’m afraid.) The best way to divide plants like coneflower is to dig up the clump, then slice it down the middle with a sharp shovel or spade. Return half to the spot from where you dug it, then divide the other half into individual plants that you can replant.

Once I had my materials, I arranged them in the container. The gladiolus bulbs go in the center. By mid summer, their tall stalks of yellow flowers will really be something. The daylilies and coneflower are arranged around the periphery. They will provide contrasting colors and shapes of foliage, as well as striking oranges and purples when they bloom.

Be sure to water in the arrangement thoroughly and keep the soil moist until the plants have taken root in their new home. It may not look like much now, but in a few months it will be fabulous!