my free stuff this year.

20 years ago

It seems every year I come up with a bit of free plants somehow. I bought a package of 15 DL's (roots) for $18. There was supposed to be 9 short yellow and 9 medium reds. When they bloomed I found 3 that were a red and yellow SPIDER Lily. A huge flower at 9"-10". Nice mistake. I bought a pot of 2 Stargazers at Lowes. There was a little green shoot in the pot when I bought it. I planted the whole thing as is because I've found sometimes you get these bonuses. It turned out to be a Red Hot Poker. Cool!!! On one of my forest trips on public land to check tree stands for deer season I came across an old house foundation. Among the weeds were thousands of Irises. I dug up 100 rhyzomes. While zipping along the interstate I passed some pots. STOP!!!! back up. There were 6 pots of roses beside the road that are in my yard now. How they got beside the road is a good question. While headed to Walmart to buy some plants I saw a pile of brush and flowers someone dug up and had put by the road in trash. I stopped and the person came out and said he just bought the home and didn't want a garden. so I got a lot of nice DL's. Am I looking for this stuff or is it just luck??? But its free.

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Comments (9)

amateur_expert
20 years ago
Hey, I'd be excited! This year I was given 6 firepower Nandinas, one daylily, and two rhododendrons. In the spring I am gong to trade some of my many DL seedlings for some Iris.
jannie
20 years ago
I went to a garden center in my own town. It's September,they have very little left, most of the good merchandise is chrysanthemums and Halloween decorations, haystacks and pumpkins. I walked in the back and found two old,ratty looking pink coneflowers. The original tags were $14.99 each. I picked them up, took them to the register where a woman was,I guess she's the owner. I asked "How much for both of these?", hoping to get a deal, maybe $20. She said "take either one for free". Yippee, that's a great price. I took it home and popped it into the ground. Hope it takes off before the real cold weather comes.
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duluthinbloomz4
20 years ago
I lucked into some daylilies, hosta, and ivy down at the city compost pile. The man doing the discarding was next to me and said he just had too much of everything. However, he did want the three 3' spruce tree volunteers I'd been potting up in the vain hope of finding some place to put them. We both got a good deal.
jackied164 z6 MA
20 years ago
A construction company was dumping some soil next to my house last spring. Not only did I get some great soil to elevate a part of my yard but I got huge clumps of daffodils. For perennials this year my freebies were selfsown coneflowers and balloon flowers. Last years freebies were from a friend of a friend. I am loving the huge clump of boltonia flowering right now and just cut back the huge clump of helenium I got from her. She also gave me some really nice daylilies. Tommorow my sister is comming and getting freebies from me. I feel it is important to give when you get.
tjsangel
20 years ago
Me too! My mom and Aunt are dedicated gardeners like I am, and we swap plants all the time. Lets see, I got a free Lambs Ear, a bunch of bulbs, Black eye susans, Lilies, Anemones, a large Yucca, honeysuckle, Vinca and Hellebore this year. It definetly works out well for all of us : )

Jen
dirtdigger_2006
20 years ago
I don't ever get free plants but manage to be the recipient of extra leafgro/ etc - the guys @ my hardware place where I get my amendments always save the ripped and half full reject bags for me! I cart them away and don't care how dirty the back of my vehicle gets. I am quite happy with this!
lilium_guy56
Original Author
20 years ago
Well I'm not the only cheapskate here. Free is a good price. When NY state built the new freeway 3 miles away the planted all that nice stuff along the ramps. There are a whole lot of the purrrrrrtiest short red roses there. Well since i pay my taxes don't some already belong to me anyway??? Or not???
thomas521
20 years ago
This year, I started visiting a local nursery (which is about a 3 minute drive from my house... why didn't I look there before?), and they've given me some freebies:

- A free coleus, after they had already given me 3 coleus for half the normal price of one.
- 8 free lily bulbs that were leftovers from the spring planting season (probably dead).
- 24 free gladiolus bulbs, also leftovers, but still alive.
- Permission to "snatch" some daylily seeds.
- 3 free ears of miniature indian corn.
- Today, they gave me a free mum.

They also gave me some other unexpected discounts throughout the year:

- a daylily that was supposed to be $2.50 for $2
- a 4-pack of dusty millers that was supposed to be 75Â¢ for 50Â¢
- a pot of lilies that was supposed to be $5 for $3
- a pumpkin that was supposed to be 75Â¢ for 50Â¢
- twice, they didn't make me pay sales tax

I guess they know how to keep bargain hunters happy!
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
20 years ago
lilium_guy, most of your free stuff came because you were observant enough to see it in the first place. It pays to be observant! How many people probably whizzed by those roses without seeing them? How many people would see the iries among the weeds? Plus being motivated enough to stop what they were doing and go get/dig them.

May all your rescues bloom prodigiously!

I've never rescued anything but kittens and the "lost tag" plants on the sale rack (9 Heuchera Regina! Hello, new shade garden!); but I find I have especially fondness for anything I've "saved". I live in a heavily populated area, so somebody is beating me to all those finds.