Frugal Challenge Saturday – Plants
June 30, 2007 by kellys
Filed under budget, frugal challenge, money saving idea
My dad has a beautiful plant on his back yard. He keeps promising me that no one can kill it. We will see about that. I will let you know how mine survives the wilderness in a few months. But I digress. I want to plant it along the outskirts of my yard as a boundary of sorts. The plant is called a wandering Jew plant and is absolutely beautiful. I hope it works well and doesn’t get eaten by the wildlife around my house.
Your frugal challenge for Saturday is to be patient with your plants. I intend to buy 2 small plants from my local nursery and then let them grow this year in the pots. Next year I will divide them up and plant them outside. I am hoping that by then, I will have several shoots to plant and won’t need to spend a lot of money to cover my flower garden. Perennials are a great way to save money if you can have patience. Buy the smaller plant this year and divide them up next year. That way you have 2 plants for the price of one and an equally satisfying garden to enjoy. Although, if I could divide and save money, I would enjoy my garden much more! Also make sure you get plants that are very hearty for your area. That way they will grow well with little effort. My personal favorite is celosia. It will grow great and with little effort. They come in all kinds of colors and are beautiful. They are an annual but I haven’t had to replant them as they came back 3 years in a row for me. Go figure. 
So enjoy your garden this summer and remember, patience literally pays off if you buy small and then divide and replant next year.
We have a wandering jew and I don’t like it as an indoor plant. Ours gets to over six feet in length and becomes a jumbled mess of tangled dry and old vines amongst the new growth. Be prepared to run the vacuum a lot if you bring this one in. My Husband transfered ours outside this year and I love it out there.
Oh, I love wandering jew! It is extremely hardy; I grew up in drought-ridden south Texas, and we never watered our plants, but it thrived regardless.
I know. My dad lives near Houston so it is perfect there. I want to put it outside to round out our mulch bed around the outside edge. I only hope the deer don’t like it. That way I can keep it. Time iwll tell.