Volunteers

Since I live in the Volunteer State, I thought I would write today about all the "free" volunteer plants I have around the garden.  Some are from annuals and biennials I have planted and some have been planted by nature, the birds and the wind.  Some come up in crazy places and some come up in a better place than I would have thought of.  So here are just a few that are prolific.....

Zinnias.  I can't remember when I planted the first seeds, but I've had them growing here and there for years.  They're growing in the grass in the front yard, in the pea gravel on the steps in the back yard, and one year got so thick out the back door, we had to walk around them on the gravel walkway to get to the car!  They are so easy to come up from seeds.  Some year I collect the seeds from the dry flower heads and some years when I'm really lazy, I just pull up the whole dry stalk in the fall and lay the whole thing where I want the plants next year.  They really are that easy.  They are also carefree and once they start blooming in early summer, they keep on going until fall.  A wonderful flower.

Asparagus.  I have a row of it at the back of the beds at the high spot of the garden.  I planted some from crowns just a few years ago.  Since I'm waiting a few years to harvest it so it can establish itself, it has been going to seed and evidently is easier to propagate than I'd thought.  I'm going to let them get a bit bigger and then move them to a new place.  (They're growing alongside more volunteer zinnias)!

Evening Primrose.  Some consider this a weed, but mother nature planted the ones in my back and I love the clear yellow of the flowers, so I let most of them go.   They come up here and there and are tough as nails, even though the flowers are delicate looking.  Besides I have a hard time pulling up a plant that I know is going to be a flower!  Gets me in trouble sometimes....like the zinnias right out the back door.....but it's a small price to pay!

Onions.  What!?  Yep.  Seems I'm always leaving a few in the garden from the previous year and they just keep growing and growing until they go to seed.  I love the looks of them.  Call me crazy! 

Redbuds.  I am forever finding little seedlings everywhere!!!  Growing in rocks, in the grass, in the flower beds, it doesn't matter.  They are one prolific tree.  I need to pot them up and start a business!  Seriously though, I have been strategically letting some grow in the yard, that now the whole hill is aglow in a purple mist in early spring.  Beautiful.  All for no money.

Coreopsis.  One of my favorite flowers.....seems like I just said that....but this one really is.  This is the early sunrise variety.   I can actually remember when this one came out on the market.  Loved it then and love it even more now.  Very easy to grow.  I started with a few plants and have let it go where it thought fit.  It likes a slightly rocky soil.  I have it coming up in pea gravel in another area also.  Very drought tolerant and by letting it go to seed, it not only reseeds but feeds the goldfinches that like the seed, too.  It's just got finished flowering here and I need to cut it back some but have been waiting until we got rain.  I didn't want to flush the plants back out and put unneeded stress on them.  If I get it cut back soon it will reflower, not as much as first, but pretty enough.  I tried the moonbeam variety, but it didn't do well at all.  I picked up a dwarf variety last week, haven't planted it yet, but hoping it is as hardy as the early sunrise.

That's just a few of the plants up here that do just fine without any help from me.  In fact, I should reword that.....they do better without any help from me.  Sometimes letting the plant do it's own thing, is all it takes.