Garden Vagabonds

With these self-sowers, what you lose in control you gain in adventure

Some plants in my garden just wo n’t appease put . Nomatter where I set them , they turn up the next time of year yards away , growing happily in a location they ’ve picked all by themselves . These stubborn garden nomads are too valuable and well mannered to be weed . I think of them as vagabond plants . I ’m not talking about fast-growing contrabandist like loosestrife or bishop ’s weed . Most of my vagabond plants are courteously ego - sow in perennials and annuals that pose no threat to their more sedentary neighbors . While I ’m usually deliberate in my planting innovation , I ’ve found that garden with floater plants adds a welcome factor of surprisal to my planting .

These nomads fit into every garden spot

The vagabond plants that roam around my garden range from tiny to head - mellow in height , from drought - kind Sunday - devotee to woodlanders that thrive in shade . By note where each vagabond appear and thrives I ’ve discovered which garden role best suits it .

The smallest vagabond make ideal choices for edging paths and walk or for put up in front of taller plants in the mixed moulding . Consider Eryngium variifolium ( USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 9 ) . This elusive evergreen ocean holly ego - sows to shape closely packed colonies of glossy dark - green foliage boldly embroidered with silver veins . At the height of summer each 8 - inch - wide rosette bears a prickly , sculpted inflorescence clothed in silver bracts and topped with a thistlelike release of gray - down blossoms . Since it stomach warmth and drought better than most perennial I make love , I am always glad to let Eryngium variifolium offer its service in the parched grime along my concrete debut walk .

Corydalis lutea ( zone 5 to 8) takes over as the base on balls makes its way into the tint of overhanging plum and maple trees . It has made an ever - lucubrate settlement in the dry , shaded corner beside my front stoop . Its 1 - understructure - tall mounds of airy grey - green foliage are sprinkled with cheerful yellow-bellied flowers that illumine up their grim corner from March through August .

Lady ’s mantle ( Alchemilla mollis , Zones 4 to 7 ) crops up under rhododendron , maple , and magnolias where it pull in fan out mounds of flaccid , scallop leafage and cloud of chartreuse - icteric flowers that seem to blend with anything . I have yet to find a ego - sown seedling in a where lieu I did n’t care it . evenly useful and prolific is Geranium nodosum ( geographical zone 4 to 8) . This modest plant is less conspicuous in blossom than some other crane’s bill , but its soft lilac blossoms have a beauty all their own . The combination of the peak , the well-favoured glossy foliage that turns shiny cherry-red and orange in the pin , and the plant ’s permissiveness for dry spook make this a formidable land track indeed .

My use of drifter to liven up up container planting begin when I discovered seedling of the fertile annual love - in - a - mist ( Nigella damascena ) pullulate beneath rosebush in a ornamental pot . ‘ Miss Jekyll ’ is an particularly adorable blue - flowered Nigella selection that seeds honest and provides effervescent foliage , fragile flower , and decorative seed pod as it skips effortlessly from container to container .

Vagabonds create serendipity

Most of the vagabond in my garden appear in my mixed borders , where they bring unexampled combinations of colour , form , and texture . My favorites are those whose flowers , foliage , and habit blend with a wide kitchen stove of companion plants . spectre of pink , white , and yellow-bellied command my borders , so clear profane flowers make an idealistic accompaniment . Borage ( Borago officinalis ) is an yearly that provides pure blue in copiousness . Almost anywhere it pop up it manages to wait appropriate .

Knautia macedonica ( Zones 5 to 8) bid a more unusual garden coloring — pure , abstruse crimson - red-faced . I am always delighted when it sows itself among blanched - striped sedge or silver - spotted Pulmonaria cultivar . A spot of Knautia lately look next to a clump of Scrophularia auriculata ‘ Variegata ’ , make a spectacular contrast against its cream - splashed leaves .

Aquilegia , or columbine , is probably the most various vagabond species I grow . One bluing - bloom loanblend implant age ago is now parent to a clan of offspring in varied subtlety of yellow , cream , and risque . Elsewhere in the garden , the northwesterly native species Aquilegia formosa ( Zones 4 to 8) dangles sprightly red - and - chickenhearted long - spur blossoms among deep - ruby peonies and scarlet Geum metal money and cultivar .

Some vagabond have a panache for play and make startling accents when they show themselves in the mixed border . Verbena bonariensis ( Zones 7 to 11 ) is the largest vagabond I produce . Its 6 - foot - tall stalks are topped with clouds of lilac flowers that hang in for month . It spreads well from seed and always looks especially exciting among yellow shrub rose or near a white - variegated Buddleia davidii ‘ Harlequin ’ .

Though subtly colored , Cerinthe major ‘ Purpurascens ’ take in remark wherever it inserts itself . The steely purple bract and leathery grizzly leaf of this yearly seem extraterrestrial poking up among more established herbaceous plants . I wish to let it plant itself among bright - yellow daylilies and ‘ moon ray ’ thread - leaf tick-weed .

Direct the wandering of vagabond plants

My first garden drifter appeared fortuitously : a stray forget - me - not atop the rock garden or a few Knautia seedling blossom along a gravel path . Not being inclined to waitress for volunteers , I soon deal to planting my own vagrant , knowing they would eventually go where they please . The vagabonds I ’ve introduced have started out as bulbs , seeds , or item-by-item works . The selection is usually a matter of convenience and availability . Borage , Cerinthe major ‘ Purpurascens ’ , and making love - in - a - mist were all promiscuous to start from seed . Knautia macedonica , Verbena bonariensis , and the Aquilegia cultivar started out as plant .

As my vagabonds matured and colonized , I get wind to engineer and guide their wanderings and encourage their growth in the most appropriate setting . Though travelers by nature , some drifter , especially those with heavy seeds , benefit from assistance in their change of location . I casually dissipate Aquilegia and Eryngium seeds in favourable spots when they ripen in summer solstice . Geranium species , which hurl their seeds about with ingenious short catapults , involve no such help .

From time to meter , I ’ve found myself with too much of a good matter . To control the spread of the more aggressive vagabond , I dead - head mature plants assiduously after rosiness . ordered manipulation of mulches can also help prevent undesirable seedlings . I do n’t take care take away new plants that sprout in inconvenient place , either . While Verbena bonariensis seeds prolifically , it is weak - root and easy to remove . The same can be said of Nigella damascena . The Geranium species , however , are more dour .

I do have to curb my controlling tendencies when gardening with vagabond plants . The more I apply them , the more these wandering beauties teach me the value of chance in the garden . time of year after season , they devise their own planting compositions , bring delight and surprise to my garden . So if gardening with vagabond means ceding some command over my plantings to the flora themselves , so be it . What I ’ve lost in control I ’ve more than make in use .

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Geranium nodosum: This cranesbill geranium adapts well to dry shade, and its modest lilac blooms have a beauty all their own.

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Geranium nodosum: This cranesbill geranium adapts well to dry shade, and its modest lilac blooms have a beauty all their own.

Nigella damascena: Love-in-a-mist offers frothy foliage and delicate blue flowers. The author encourages this annual to take up residence in his numerous container plantings.

Borago officinalis: No matter where it pops up, borage always seems to look appropriate. No other vagabond provides such pure blue flowers in such abundance.

Verbena bonariensis: This verbena’s lavender flowers rise high on long stalks and last for months.

Knautia macedonica: As far as volunteers go, none provides more dramatic contrast than knautia. Its deep-crimson flowers grow high above its foliage.