It is also possible to create an almost instant trough from plants in the garden. I did this last April when I had signed up to bring a centerpiece for our garden club meeting. Rather than go out and buy plants, I decided to take what I had in bloom outdoors. It was a very early season with flowers about 2 weeks ahead of normal. The Scabiosa 'Pink Mist' in the center came from my cold greenhouse. After sticking in the plants, I used native moss as a groundcover. I included a list of plants on a piece of paper beside the trough. I believe I created the trough two days before the meeting. On the day of the meeting I trimmed the few leaves that had gone limp with an embroidery scissors. The trough was a big hit, especially the Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex' and the Anemonella thalictroides 'Cameo.' After the meeting I took the trough to my brother to photgraph. As you can see, one leaf of Corydalis orchroleuca has gone limp. Had I been there, I would have snipped it off. The next day I collected my trough and replanted all the plants (the Scabiosa went back into the greenhouse. The only plant which didn't survive was a very tiny Phlox subulata with a single red flower showing in background. When I transplanted the Scabiosa into the rock garden next month it rewarded me with a second bloom, and it just finished a big autumn bloom when frost hit October 12.
Of course an instant trough like this could not be entered in a competition. Barbara van Achterberg Easton, Connecticut USA zone 6 _______________________________________________ > Alpine-l mailing list > Alpine-l@science.uu.nl > http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l >
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