Monday, June 3, 2019

Laundry Room Sink and Shelf Love

I love everything in this room! The old ginger beer bottles lining the shelf are a lovely touch for a great photo shoot.

My clay chicken pot found on the side of the road on trash day several years ago is planted with on of my rosemary herbs that was originally rooted in water. This photo also shows my second cast iron chicken in the background. I haven't spent any money at all this year in either my front or back gardens. I have just been transplanting, rooting, or seeding with seeds I saved myself or bought last year. I am especially proud of a Limelight Hydrangea cutting I pushed into the ground two years ago when I was pruning that is turning into a handsome shrub.

Here it is in between two American boxwood I just pruned and haven't picked up the clippings yet. I pushed this clipping into the earth next to the mother plant when I pruned my huge Limelight in the fall two years ago. The following spring it sprouted leaves and I left it in place. I transplanted it to the side garden next to the driveway that leads to my red barn/garage this spring and now is thriving and is growing into a real flowing shrub. It will probably outgrown this spot but for now it is in its "nursery" stage. I planted another rooting in another spot but it is much slower showing off than this one. Plant propagating is another form of thrift and requires patience but is very rewarding in the end. Luckily I have a lot of patience that has paid off in many areas of my life.

Current rootings in progress at my kitchen sink. Left and center vases have many roots forming on lavender clippings and the far right has a limelight hydrangea cutting from my new shrub; I am curious to see if it will root in water. I have already planted one clump of lavender rootings and they are growing slowly but surely out back. My mother always had something she had pinched rooting at the kitchen sink and my brother and I liked to root sweet potatoes and carrots there too. Now I want to go out and buy some sweet potatoes and get a good vine going. xo

8 comments:

Claire said...

Your plants and treasures are wonderful. Love your blog. It's like visiting with an old friend. The funny thing that I've decided about patience is that I really do have more now but I probably have less time to enjoy it!

Mama Pea said...

You have reminded me that years ago I frequently rooted a sweet potato (have done it with a regular white potato, too) and let it grow into a lovely, flourishing vine . . . as a house plant. They wouldn't last forever but looked very nice for months as I remember.

Content in a Cottage said...

Mama Pea -- I have never tried rooting a cut white potato and I haven't done a sweet potato in longer than I care to remember. They sell sweet potato vines in all the flower shops. Do you suppose they are the same thing? Everything old is new again!!!
xo, Rosemary

LacyKnitsDaily said...

Love your photography. So dreamy and relaxing. I just recently found your blog and am so happy I did.

Penelope Bianchi said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
The only suggestion I have.....do not clean up the clippings! I have learned that all this raking up of fallen leaves under hedges, and trimmed hedges....is a terrible idea! Those leaves and trimmings make mulch that is beneficial to all plants!
No raking under hedges in my garden.....we leave all leaves....when they are on the gravel, they are raked and put under the other plants...lots of people buy mulch here! And their gardeners blow those leaves out from under the hedges.....then buy mulch to keep moisture in ! Crazy!!!!

Content in a Cottage said...

Claire -- It's never too late to have patience come into your life. I like living my life in the slow lane.
xo, Rosemary

Content in a Cottage said...

LacyKnitsDaily -- Welcome to my blog. I'm so happy you found me.
xo, Rosemary

Content in a Cottage said...

Penelope Bianchi -- Penny, Thank you for any and all suggestions about gardening. I shall just "rake" the clippings with my hands under the boxwood where there are already leaves from last fall.
xo, Rosemary