A Garden Keeps on Giving

Perennial gardening is simple math, even for someone as mathematically challenged as me:

You plant something.

It grows.

It gets bigger each year.

If it gets too big, it will get tired and unhappy. So you divide it in two, three, four, five, or more pieces.

You replant one or two of those pieces, and you have several more pieces that no longer fit in your garden.

Multiply this cycle by several years, and you have many more plants and many more divisions left over each spring. This is where I have arrived in the mathematics of perennial gardening.

One of the things I have always loved about gardening is how it brings people together. Each spring and/or fall, gardeners trade and share their extra plants with friends, family, and neighbours, thereby building relationships, feeding the bees and butterflies, and beautifying the earth. 

For most avid perennial gardeners, there comes a time when the bounty from their gardens exceeds the demand amongst their network of gardening enthusiasts. And that's where I'm at. My garden has been around for a while now, so my plants are mature (unlike me), and I'm running out of recipients for their propagations.

So I was delighted when I recently stumbled on an ad for the Grow a Dream Hamilton plant sale on June 7. They need(ed) plants, and I had some to give.

Grow a Dream is the brainchild of Joan Durley, a nurse who works in the emergency department at the Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton. Her aim is to raise at least $2,500 for the Juravinski Cancer Center Foundation out of her gratitude for the care her family member received at the Center during a recent battle with cancer. One of the ways she hopes to raise funds is through a plant sale that will be part of the Concession Street Festival on June 7.

I was delighted to find such a wonderful purpose for my extra plants. I potted up a bunch of perennials, and Joan picked them up from my house on Saturday. It was great to meet her and learn more about her work and fundraising efforts. I hope the plants from my garden can contribute a little towards that $2,500 goal. 

If you'd like to learn more about Joan and the plant sale, you can visit the Grow a Dream web site. Better yet, stop by the sale and pick up some plants. And if you have plants to divide from your own garden and would like to donate them, contact Joan at [email protected].

plants from my garden destined for the Grow a Dream Hamilton plant sale: dalmatian cranesbill, hostas, blue sage, lily of the valley, and false sunflower