Cimorene

One time years ago I complained to Wax about the quantity of plants in our flat, because when she trimmed a plant that can root from cuttings she'd always root them, and there were just way more than we had space for.

"What do you want me to do with them?" she asked, incredulously.

"Throw the cut off bits in the trash!"

"But they're alive," she said.

Well, with time, that problem got better. Wax started composting cuttings and things like that largely based on how much window space was available, and many of our excess plants died in the depressed/stressed periods when we got worse at caring for them.

But that conversation stuck with me, and now I get upset every time I'm reminded about the comparatively common practice of growing long-lived perennials that are native to warmer climes as disposable one-year decorations and just leaving them out and letting them freeze to death.

There are tons of plants that are used this way in Finland. Chrysanthemums, for example, and Coleus (painted nettles), to name the most recent examples. They're sold cheaply and plentifully in grocery stores and the Finnish equivalent of Target and Walmart every year, basically without care information, planted outside in planters and window boxes, and then thrown out and replaced with something else seasonal once they drop their blooms or die back.

We're going to try putting the chrysanthemums in the basement this winter to let them hibernate, and keep the Coleus inside. Wax also has a pelargonium I rescued from the outside planter at work when directed to throw it out last fall. It lived on a shelf getting watered occasionally last winter and has bloomed all summer on the porch this year.