Experiments That Worked

I haven’t had much luck with my experiments this year. The morning glories refused to climb their strings. The hyacinth beans refused to germinate. And the nasturtiums refused to bloom. I have had two notable successes. The first was my long-suffering Cuban Oregano. Contrary to my natural inclinations, I have faithfully moved it in and out of the house according to the season. It has survived but looked very sad.

This spring, my local grocery store was having a sale on colorfully patterned containers. I decided my Cuban Oregano needed a pick-me-up. I purchased a pot with a Bird of Paradise design in honor of its tropical origins:


I thought it might also like a change of scenery, so I put it in a different garden than usual. I’m not sure if it was the pot or the location or both, but it is a very different plant now:


The pot that it had been in has a new occupant. A rosemary that was a leftover at the greenhouse at Rutgers Gardens. I was told that it most likely would not survive the winter inside my house, but what the heck, it was free! I thought that it had indeed died until it began to show some green come springtime.


I moved it to the larger pot and placed it in my sunniest garden. It made such a remarkable comeback, that I was emboldened to try something completely different.


Inspired by a rosemary that I saw at NYBG, I’m attempting a bit of topiary.


The square container should be a nice contrast to the eventual round top of the rosemary, don’t you think? And what became of the lower branches?


I’m putting those Master Gardener classes on propagation to good use.