No matter how sad looking the plant, whenever we get anything with roots, we find a spot for it in the gardens. This little chrysanthemum isn't supposed to be alive. It's supposed to have died off during our harsh Northeastern winter. It shouldn't have survived the lack of watering and feeding and pampering that it had become accustomed to in it's childhood at the greenhouse. It should be compost.
But! We dug a hole after Thanksgiving last year and plopped it in. The spot we selected was on the sheltered side, between a set of stairs and a rock wall, but it got lots of sun. The soil was - well I don't know if you could even call it soil, it was more of a compacted dust bin really. No grass would grow there. Even the dandelions steered clear of the spot. It was kind of barren and sad which matched the state of this chrysanthemum last November.
We left it alone. Live or die. It was up to the plant. No pressure either way. If it died, it would add some nice organic components to the soil and its little root system would have done a bit of good for breaking up the compacted dust. If it lived, it could be a nice little chrysanthemum bush. We didn't actually expect flowers.
It lived! And it flowered! I don't usually notice that area of the gardens, it's more of a blank spot, but while I was out retaking photos of the last flowers and veggies, I saw this little beauty. There's grass around it now and a few leaves have gotten caught in its' foliage. It is holding in water for the spot and turning what was not even a piece of dirt into good garden soil. And it flowered! (Did I mention that it flowered?)
We're going to leave it alone. It seems happy there and is doing a really good job of growing and thriving where no weed dared to tread. It feeds the bumblebees and collects it's own mulch from wind blown leaves. It even has it's own lawn. Quiet frankly, I don't think it needs us much at all.
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