Curbside Marketing

        My next door neighbor has the biggest yard in our apartment complex.  And, in an ironic twist, she works three jobs.  A plant lover, her patio is covered with pots filled with all kinds of flowers – orchids, iris, tulips, rosemary, azaleas, numerous herbs and a number of succulents.  Way too much for such a busy person to care for.  After I lived there a couple of years and watched several plants die, I made a proposal to her – for a minimal monthly fee I would be her maintenance gardener.  It would be my job to do regular watering and weeding and generally oversee the welfare of her garden.  And that plan has worked out well for both of us.  I get to see beautiful, healthy plants when I look her way, and she gets to share the burden of their care with me.

        But one plant that never fit in and never looked good, no matter what I did, was a palm in a tub.  It was puny and floppy and no matter what fertilizer or propping up we did, it never looked any better.  I approached my neighbor – how about if I dug the plant up, advertised it on Craig’s list and left it on the curb?  She said yes, so I uprooted the palm, stuck its roots into a big plastic bag and put it out.   About two hours after I posted the ad, the palm was gone.

        I was delighted and amazed at these wonderful results.  But when I told my friend Jane, she said, “You don’t even have to advertise.  I’ve put out lots of things I didn’t want and people have picked them up.”

        Pat, another friend, leaving on vacation, asked if I would find a home for a vine she couldn’t use.  This time, using Jane’s method, I put the plant, in a one gallon container, on the sidewalk, with a note – FREE PLANT - attached to it. The next time I looked, it was gone.

        I am so glad to discover this way of recycling.  I hate throwing out things that still have life in them, plants especially.  It’s wonderful to know they’ll be taken into a home where they can be used and are wanted.  Another level of recycling.  And free.