We Ditched the Orphans

This title has a somewhat unfriendly sound, so perhaps a bit of clarification is in order. Every year we have a bunch of plants that sit around as leftovers from our Plant Sale or divisions, or acquisitions that have not been planted in a proper garden spot. Each fall for a number of years we have been sinking these "strays" in a ditch along the path behind the manure area. A ditch here in our domain of sandy soil will never have water, so it is a dry spot below grade that will accommodate quite a number of plants. There is quite a variety of mostly shrubs and trees that end up here. Here are a few little Evergreen Azaleas to go in.... A couple of Rhododendrons have spent the last 2 years of their lives in this situation, doesn't seem to hinder them too much. Each fall the ditch will need a bit of cleaning out, as it gets a bottom layer of composty/maure-type stuff that is shovelled in around the plants.

A winter with lots of snow, actually means less need for this filling in. We can't count on snow, so we do add quite a bit of manure to the packed in pots. I did intend to count the number of plants that actually landed here, but didn't!

Now we need to deal with another bunch of herbaceous perennials that also need a home for the winter.