11 June 2017

a new one

I was at someone's house picking up a bike for my kid- and admired a plant in their front yard. It spreads- she warned me- so she was happy to let me dig out a clump of it from the corner where it was going over the edging. I brought it home on a too-warm day- there were no cool, cloudy ones anytime soon (this was several weeks ago- still catching up to myself here)- and did the best I could for its chances.
I brought it home in a bucket with several inches of water, misted it with water, and put a soaked towel over it, all to try and hold in some humidity. Planted it in the front by the peony. It looks nothing so nice as this now- has severely wilted.
It had a great big long taproot, but she said it grows so vigorously, I thought I could take cuttings. I did that right away- thinking a severe trim would also help the main plant (having less foliage for the roots to support while it recovers).
I put some of those in a jar of water-
still near all these other guys indoors (kalanchoe, echeveria leaves, cuban oregano, aloe vera)
and the rest stuck into a pot of soil.
These in the pot outside have done the best- for the first few days I kept it heavily watered and moved constantly to stay in the shade (here near peppers, coleus 'kiwi fern' and boston fern)
It has a lovely palest blue-green color.
Very soft, fragile foliage. I think it might be the plant my mother called dusty miller- except hers was white. I think this is the variant called 'silver lace'. If the potted cuttings root well, I can separate them out in fall to have a dozen new plants.

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