by Amanda Moon

 

I have a confession to make; I’m a sucker for bulbs. I am also a

sucker for free plants, a.k.a. rustled plants. I had the opportunity to

satisfy both of these desires this fall after receiving a call from my

cousin. My late, great, great aunt’s farm was going up for sale;

was I interested in any of the bulbs coming up in her yard?  Uh...

yea!  Did you even have to ask?

 

We arrived at the farm on a glorious Tuesday in October, and I was

immediately in heaven.  The pretty garden around my ancient relative’s

100 year old farmhouse was crowded with oxblood lilies (schoolhouse

lilies), bearded irises, daylilies, and even a smattering of amaryllis. 

 

In the middle of the yard, to my great joy, rose a beautiful yellow

cluster of autumn crocus bulbs, blooming their heads off due to

the little bit of rain we’d received.  Of course those were the first to

make it into the truck, and have now found a lovely new home in

my front flowerbed.

 

I filled up my car with what we could that day and then returned

the next week to finish up.

 

You can think of ‘rustling’ as gathering plants or starts from outdoor

spaces or other people’s gardens…. with permission of course. The

wonderful thing about being a rustler is that it gives you the chance to

collect plants that may not be available on the retail market. It also

saves you money. (The bulbs I collected from the farmhouse garden

are quite expensive.)

 

 Many times these are heirloom plants that have been growing in an

area for many years and therefore should be able to take anything

our climate can throw at them with relative ease. 

 

My prize find, over 1,000 oxblood lily bulbs, have been grown in

Texas since the mid-1800s when German immigrants brought them

over to their new homeland.  Now naturalized on old homesteads,

these bulbs (Rhodophiala bifida) bring dramatic red blooms to any

neglected site each fall with the first good rain. 

 

An interesting side note to these lilies; they know what rain water is

and will not bloom if you just try and water them.  There will be no

tricking these lilies!

 

Bearded irises are another “bulb” (actually a rhizome, but I digress)

that can be found on neglected homesites and in old cemeteries all

over the state of Texas.  These large, colorful flowers bloom in the

early to late spring depending on variety.  Although there are many

on the market, it is the old white and purple ones that are so depen-

dable.  And I guess because I grew up with these older irises they

are also still my favorite. 

 

What I find the most interesting about plant rustling is the great sense

of discovery.  Also there seems to be some sort of a rule for plants.

They are both quite expensive and hard to get started in your yard,

but once you have them, you will always have too many. 

 

I have run out of places to plant irises and lilies (and most other

bulbs because of course I have a sickness and can’t control myself-

bought more today- somebody help me!).  But I’m rambling again.

 

If you can find a source either from a family member or neighbor,

and sometimes even on Craigslist, it is possible to build up a coll-

ection of amazing pass-along plants with very little money and just

a little elbow grease. You might even collect enough to share yourself.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!