Plant Adoption Party

Plant adoption party! We have signed a lease on a new apartment and now I know what I will keep for our new terrace (top floor, small, but private and promising).

I have been working for weeks to transfer all my in-ground plants to pots and they have put down new roots and are ready for new homes. They are in good potting mix and have been fed. Thanks to Gowanus Nursery for donating recycled nursery pots and potting media!

Please email me for address and to RSVP.

When:

20 September, 4pm - 6.30pm
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

What:

Food and drink: Prosecco and common milkweed cocktails will be on offer. Maybe some snacks. If you would like to contribute a potluck snack plate, that would be fun. (Finger food. Extra points for foraged ingredients.)

Plants for adoption: Plastic pot sizes range from 4" in diameter to 1 quart through 5 gallon in volume. Terra cotta sizes range from 8" across to 18" across.

Other Stuff: There will also be some gardening accessories up for grabs. Like nice, almost-new red pea and tomato trellises from Gardener's Supply, a giant tuteur, terra cotta pots, re-usable aluminum row labels, a giant galvanized trough, and some things I have not thought of yet.  Also some wild-inspired goodies like vinegars.

I will have a limited number of books (Forage, Harvest, Feast) for sale: $25, cash only, please.

How:

Please only attend if you are adopting a plant or plants.
RSVP if you are coming.
First come, first adopted.
Getting plants home is your job. Some are heavy.
If you need transport or help for them - no way you're carrying the biggest ones to the subway - you may tag and fetch the next day.
Bring bags to carry them (like double Whole Foods or Trader Joe's bags or Ikea bags or roomy, strong totes). Or little red carts!
I will have tape and sharpies for tagging plants so you can sip without fear of losing the plant you like.
Plants I am keeping will be tagged with a bamboo stick and a conspicuous ribbon. Do not steal the keepers. If you do I will chase you with the stick. Nobody touch the limes!

Edible Perennials and Shrubs:

Black raspberries x 3 (2 in shock, but viable; 1 very heavy) - full sun ideal, but can fruit with 4 hours direct sun
Blueberries x 2 - full sun or semi-shade
Black chokeberry x 1 - full sun or semi-shade
Cardamom x 9 (must come indoors in winter) - delicious, aromatic leaves for cooking, I doubt they will flower and make pods, though - full shade
Chives x 6 - full sun
Common milkweed x 4 (they look minimal now but will rebound in spring. NOT suitable for pots, must go in-ground) - full sun
Gooseberry x 1 (5 gal plastic pot) - full sun
Nettles x 4  - semi-shade
Saffron crocus bulbs x approx. 50 (WILL bloom in October and must be planted soon!) - full sun
Serviceberry - large pot, 3' shrub
Wintercress (Barbarea verna) - x 7 - full sun

Semi Shade and Shade Perennials and Shrubs:

Boxwood (tiny) x 1
Christmas fern x 2 (takes full shade)
Doll's eyes x 2
Diervilla 'Cool Splash'- large pot
Fescue (not sure of ID - very nice shade lover) x 6
Lady fern x 1 - full shade
Heuchera autumnalis x 2
Hostas - green-n-white x 2
Lily of the valley x 2 pots
Ostrich ferns x 8 (plus 10 baby ostrich ferns) - can take full shade
Oak leaf hydrangea - large pot
Rodgersia x 3 (the largest looks awful but is very healthy, it just got dry - they need to stay moist)
Sensitive fern x 1 - can take full shade
Solomon's Seal x 3 large pots - drought tolerant, within reason
Virginia creeper x 2

Perennials for Sun (6 hours-plus direct):

Agastache 'Black Adder' - x 2 (heavy)
Arrowwood viburnum - very large pot
Bearded iris - no name, deep purple x 1
Calamintha x 2
Evening primrose x 1
Echinacea x 8
Daylilies, orange x 3
Lamb's ears x 2
Lilies x 40, in groups of 2 - 3 per pot (Madame Butterfly, Regale, Silk Road, Scheherazade, Silver Scheherazade, White Butterflies)
Joe Pye weed - 4 pots (hated being dug up, but viable; grows to 8' tall)
Monkshood x 4 (they looks scraggly but I think they will be fine. Wash your hands after handling cut leaves or stems)
Pineapple plants (Eucomis species) x 9 in groups of 3 (they must be overwintered indoors in a cold dry place, or dug up when the leaves die, and bulbs stored in the crisper drawer of fridge until May)
Swamp milkweed x 2

There will also be more Solomon's seal to dig (bring nursery pots 12" or larger in diameter to accommodate, or plastic bags), as well as violets to dig up, plus purple shiso (perilla) to cut and take home, and sweet potato tendrils to harvest (blanch in boiling water for 1 minute before eating).

What to bring:

Sturdy bags for carrying pots
Plastic bags or pots for plants you might dig up
Trowel for digging, if you plan to (I have one shovel and 1 trowel)