The free plant challenge

I've set myself a challenge to create the entire garden with plants I've gotten for free. Crazy I know, it's partly for economic reason and partly for eco reasons. I don't want to spend any more on landscaping than I already have and I really want to save plants that are destined for the rubbish. It's nuts that entire gardens full of established plants are tossed away during garden renovations and the same plant is $25 for a single pot at Bunnings.

I thought this challenge would difficult and time consuming with lots of driving and digging but I was super, SUPER lucky and it only took two houses.

Huzzah!

The first place was on the other side of town, so a bit of a drive but so worth it. This couple was turning their front garden into a productive garden, so all the old agaves had to go. There were eight really large ones and dozens of smaller pups - 32 all up!  I took my trusty handsaw and shovel but they were relatively easy to remove. They fit nicely in the back of the car and are ready for planting when the garden beds are ready.

The second one happens to be a place that Jansen is demolishing. It's really hard to see, but there are loads of bromeliads and cordylines in the front. It took me quite a few hours to get them out and loaded up into the car, but oh so worth it.

I was pretty happy once I loaded up but when I got in the car I turned around and saw this.

FAAAAAAAAAARK!!!

I didn't know what to do, so I just took a photo and sat on the ground and pondered the fact that  I probably just loaded 30 of these arachnids into the back of the car, something I definitely hadn't considered during the process.

FAAAAAAAAAARK!!!

Anyway, I love animals, but I hate spiders so I squished it and hightailed it home as fast as I could. After I unloaded it I sprayed the car, but luckily nothing came out.

It was a fantastic haul - hundreds of bright cordylines, ctenanthe and spathiphyllums. They're all just sitting in buckets of water until they're ready for planting.

And there were 68 bromeliads. Yep, I counted them cause that's what I do. I'm pretty confident this will actually be enough to do the whole garden, but I'll keep an eye on Gumtree anyways.

Generally the type of plants that will transplant well are tropical plants and just so happens all the ones collected are tropical so I guess that's what the backyard will be. It will be different to the front yard and not originally what I planned, but I'm sure it will be ok. Actually I'm sure it will be awesome. And, you know, free.