I Am A Plant Relocator

It is never more apparent to me than the week before the native plant society’s annual spring sale that I am a semi-professional “plant relocator.”  I should get a bumper-sticker made or perhaps a button to wear on my shirt. Of course, I should get several for I am not the only one; I have a group of friends that have trained with me all these years.

Plants under the deck wait to be transported

How do I get all these plants?

- All through the year, I rescue plants and pot them up or plant them in my yard. The potted plants are often destined for the next plant sale.
- Someone might offer to donate plants to the sale, and I’ll host the plants at my house for several months (even longer if they need time to grow to a good size).
- I pot up extras from my own yard.
- For the native plant society's annual sale, nurseries donate plants.

Plants waiting to grow stronger or bigger

So those are all plants coming in. Then, at some point, plants go out. They get packed up and taken to the big sale or to meetings, plant swaps, restoration projects or friends.  For the big sale, the car gets pretty dirty by April. In the two weeks before the sale, the back seats are removed or folded down to make more room. Tarps or old shower curtains provide some measure of protection, but pine needles and bits of mulch know how to escape.

I really enjoy being able to facilitate the transfer of native plants to new people. We all do. The reward is in the look on the faces of the recipients and customers. To hear someone say “Oh, I’ve been looking for this!” It is also in knowing that you’ve shared one of your favorite plants with someone who will enjoy it.

This year added a special aspect to the game. I’m participating in the society’s garden tour next weekend so there was much movement around the house as I shuffled plants that were going or staying but needed to be somewhere else (front to back, back to upper deck, or was it the side deck …?). More about that fun in next week’s blog ….

So here’s to me and my friends: Sheri, Marcia, Karen, Lynn, Greta, Lola, Debbie. You know who you are. Maybe we should write a re-locator manual! In the meantime, we’ll keep honing our skills so that we can train future plant re-locators in the ways of this craft.