I'm amazed at how hearty bulbs are. Three years ago I traded some cactus dahlias for some daffodil bulbs. The exchange happened while the snow was flying but the ground was still unfrozen. They were planted and watched for the next spring. Maybe 3 came up out of about 50 and maybe one bloomed. The spring after, all 50 came up and half bloomed. I was amazed that these bulbs sat dormant for so long, and in clay soil no less, I had assumed that they had rotted. Other stories include bulbs and rhizomes as well.

While digging up bulbs such as hyacinths, I sometimes slice a few in half accidentally. I leave the cut ones behind and they always come up the next spring, and usually with two stalks.

One last one. I transplanted a couple hundred of irises that had become overcrowded a couple of years ago, it not only sounds like a lot - it is a lot. After digging them up, dividing them, and replanting them, I was getting really sick of planting, so all the small sickly and diseased ones got thrown onto a huge pile of dirt in the back yard left to bake in the sun. They were not covered by any dirt or compost, just laying there totally exposed. The next spring the discarded irises had grown and their leafy fans looked like little green hands telling me I'm number one, or maybe were just flipping me off.

Thanks for sharing, jb,
I especially like the story about the Irises. They are tough!
I prune out Red-twig dogwood branches annually, and toss them in a pile for later use, like staking perennials. One very wet year, I used several R-w dog twigs around a newly planted perennial that rabbits were attacking. I tied string around the twigs, forming somewhat of a cage. Later in the season, I noticed that the stakes had rooted themselves in the moist soil, and had formed new leaves as well. So now I had new baby shrubs w/o even trying! Needless to say I transplanted them to new locations.

Anymore throw-away stories, people?

Julie

Mint...any kind...does not come on my property...not even cuttings. I planted oregano 20 yrs ago and I'm still weeding it out.

Well, of course there is the giant pumpkin growing on the compost pile.
Catrina

I made the mistake of planting lamium (yellow archangel) in one of my rock gardens. It tried to take over, so I tore it all out and threw it behind the compost pile in the woods. In a year or two we had a 10'X 10' patch of lamium in the woods. I've never planted any kind of lamium again.

Virginia