Plants – Garden Volunteers & Garden Tools

On By TimelessladyIn Plants

Each year I delight in finding plant ‘volunteers’ in my garden beds. I often have unexpected bare spots in the early Summer due to the foliage of daffodils and other bulb plants dying back. These volunteers perfectly fill the empty spaces. I’m so grateful for my garden volunteers.

Nicotiana sylvestris (flowering tobacco)
Coleus Sprout and Browallia
Blue Lobelia and Balsam
Balsam Flower from a Volunteer Plant – I have dozens of these beauties in many colors in the garden beds…most are volunteers.
Bird feeder seed volunteers – This Sunflower hid among other weedy volunteers and didn’t fall victim to the hungry rabbits.
Yellow Thistle – This is invasive in some parts of the country, but it is the first time I have seen the plant in my garden. It has grown in the ground beneath the winter bird feeder. I think it probably was part of a Wild Finch Bird Seed I bought this past year.
Moving a Balsam volunteer for replanting.

I’ve mentioned this tip before, but for newcomers to the blog it’s worth repeating. One of my favorite tools for transplanting volunteer plants is a putty knife. It slides right down between sidewalk cracks and lifts the small plantlets roots and all. It also digs deep and severs the roots of Dandelions, evening Primrose, and Plantain, all good weeds, but sometimes too exuberant in their growth.

Balsam root ball intact using putty knife removal.

8 thoughts on “Plants – Garden Volunteers & Garden Tools”

    1. Timelesslady

      Mine are also catching up to those I purchased from a greenhouse. Amazing! I’m expecting great tomatoes…whatever variety they turn out to be since I grew many last year and also composted any scraps from tomatoes I purchased. I love surprises. What type of tomato do you think yours is?

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        1. Timelesslady

          I think one of mine might be a tomato I grew last year and didn’t plant this year…Lucky Tiger. It is an heirloom from seeds I bought last year from Baker Creek Seeds. The reason I didn’t plant it again this year is, last year, most of them were prone to cracking, but they were really pretty. I’m glad it has turned out that it is the one that I kept as a volunteer. I’ll try to post photos of it when it is mature. They are still very immature.

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Thanks so much for your comments. They fill my life with sunshine.

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