This morning, I chaperoned a field trip, and one of the other moms, Julie H., handed me a sack. Inside were pumpkin seeds, four different kinds, including a blue one, which she said was her favorite last year. She couldn’t remember all the names, but her face lit up with excitement as she described the attributes of each. This one was bumpy. That one was white, and another was good for cooking. They were only seeds, but . . . her gift was priceless, for it was her friendship she shared.
When I was a young gardener, I had no money, and for years, my finances continued to be between slim and none. Still, I had neighbors and friends, and they provided me with the best plants in their gardens. Some of those I carried to my Guthrie garden twenty years ago, and every time I gaze over its new growth, I feel loved and honored by all the wonderful gardeners I’ve known.
Passalong plants are often the best garden performers. If they weren’t, people wouldn’t have enough to share. So, when someone local gives me a plant, I often receive one specially suited for my Oklahoma landscape. When I return the favor, I usually make a better friend.
When I pull weeds, or water in a new plant, I always think of dear Wanda F. There isn’t a spot where I look that doesn’t have some plant from Wanda. I have dozens of daylilies (ones which have the best plant habits), a lovely, little black-stemmed maidenhair fern, Phlox paniculata ‘Bright Eyes,’ and both blue and purple Phlox divaricata. I could offer other examples, but there are other friends too, who provided my garden with lush flowers and foliage. There’s Paul, who gave me sackfuls of a particular fern I admired in his shady front garden. There’s my earliest garden friend, Katie M., who gave me the best old heirloom four o’clocks, a native Rudbeckia, and the most hardy and resilient, pink Phlox paniculata, which I’ve also passed along to others. She gave me obedient plant too, but I won’t hold it against her.
Recently, my passalong list extended across the miles to Gail from Clay and Limestone and Barbara from Mr. McGregor’s Daughter. I can tell you that there is no greater thrill than receiving a box with your friend’s name printed across the return address. It’s even better than a beautiful box from your favorite nursery. Last summer, when Pam from Digging and her mother visited, Pam gave me a container of her ‘Best of Friends’ daylily.
I think that speaks volumes about all passalong plants. If you love something in another person’s garden, admire it and then offer something beautiful from your own. Gardeners are generous people. They will often accept and then give you your heart’s desire.
What better gift for the planet than sharing a little bit of your paradise with someone else? Happy Earth Day Everyone.
I am so grateful to have the irises. Suddenly I remembered that I gave you one of Honey’s rose bushes. Thank you for asking for it. I’m happy to know we have each other’s plants.
xxxooo
CurtissAnn´s last blog post..Outdoor Wednesday– plants moving on
Curtiss, Honey’s rose bush is already in the ground and thriving. Can’t wait to see her blooms. It’s a little piece of you in my garden, which will cheer me when you leave for good.~~Dee
And if you’ve not read it yet, “Passalong Plants” by Steve Bender and Felder Rushing will inspire more giveaways.
TC´s last blog post..Say Nothin’ Saturday
Tim, I adore that book. I read it cover to cover, and I’m going to feature it on Examiner this summer. Thanks for the reminder.~~Dee
Such great thoughts and sentiments! So true! It makes me want to go out and pull out some pink phlox that have sprouted all over (it must be the same as Gail’s PPPP) because it just goes and goes) and pot some up and give them to my elderly neighbors who have too many bare spots to mention!!
Thanks, Jan. I hope you do. Follow through on that kind of thought is a beautiful thing.~~Dee
What a beautiful post.
Sweet Bay´s last blog post..Blooming Friday
Thank you so much.~~Dee
Dee, what a wonderful post. I understand your love for passalong plants, and I love to walk through my garden and remember those who gave me this or that and the friendship they shared with me.
We call it DISobedient plant, and I actually wish I had some. Mine (a beautiful variegated one) died, and the friends I’d passed it along to had long since ripped it out. But it has such lovely flowers, and it was never greedy for space in my garden.
Kim´s last blog post..Coming Soon to a Salad Bar (for Rabbits) Near You
Kim, I wish mine were variegated. I would so give you some. I have a love hate relationship with it.~~Dee
Lovely post Dee. So true. I always think of the person who gave me a plant when I’m working around it. A sense of immortality there I think.
Jean´s last blog post..Native Plants at Briarwood
Exactly. We all want a sense of immortality don’t we?~~Dee
Oh Dee I think it’s marvelous that you can trial the P.pilosas! I am glad they arrived healthy! I think I also sent a bit of Senecio aureus. gail
Gail´s last blog post..Dear Miss Alliance:
Oh yes, you are absolutely correct about the pass along plants. Gifts of love and friendship.
Brenda
Brenda Kula´s last blog post..Earth Day Blooms
I’ve been blessed to receive many passalong plants in my years as a gardener. The ones that are especially meaningful are those from friends who are no longer with me. I look at the plants and think of their caring and generosity, and it helps to know that they live on in my garden.
Cindy, MCOK´s last blog post..Through the Garden Gate: Monday, April 20th
My sentiments exactly Dee. Lovely post about the bounty shared between garden friends. What would we do with the passalong plants, seeds, cuttings etc. we get from our friends?
Yolanda Elizabet´s last blog post..Time to Say Goodbye…..
Nicely put…sharing is a gift for the giver and the receiver.
Leslie´s last blog post..Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2009
Gardeners are the most generous people I’ve come across in life. There are many plants in my garden that came from friends & relatives that shared my passion for digging in the dirt. Lovely post!
Racquel´s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: Me OUCH!
Yes indeed the sweetest things in life are free. I have also been the happy recipient of free plants this year.
keewee´s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
I like giving good plants to my gardening friends. It makes me feel rich.
Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening´s last blog post..The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug: What You Need to Know
What a lovely post, Dee. Those passalongs stay with us for a lifetime of wonderful memories and great friendships. And what a good friend you are to have been honored by so many. I have my wonderful passalong Oklahoma “rock” roses prominently displayed and get lots of comments on them in my garden 🙂
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I have flowers from my grandmother. WE often talk in the garden though she has been gone for years.
Patsybell´s last blog post..Don’t Forget The Sun Screen
Isn’t it great to receive passalongs?? I so agree that it not only fills the garden but fills the heart.
I have some similar, given by a fiend, didn’t know they where heirloom.
Patsybell´s last blog post..Don’t Forget The Sun Screen
Enjoyed your post. It reminded me of the seedling redbud my mother gave me, which is now 12 feet tall. Then there is the purple leaved oxalis from a gardening friend, which just keeps on keeping on, ensuring that I now have many to give away. My husband keeps propagating a gorgeous variegated agave that I scored at Rock Garden Society sale, and now we share its offspring with anyone who admires the plants enough to ask for one. I also have peonies that my neighbor Heidi brought over in tears one mid-summer’s day because she had to rip them out to make way for a porch. We stored them in a pile of finished compost and leaf mold, and then planted them in the fall, and they recovered and live on. I guess we all could go on and on with similar people and plant stories.
Country Gardener´s last blog post..Six Plants I Can’t Live Without
Wonderful post! I’m glad the Phlox pilosa finally arrived. I hope they are fine and will be happy in your garden for many years to come.
Mr. McGregor’s Daughter´s last blog post..Earth Day 2009
MMD, they did! Thank you. Thank you.~~Dee
What a great post, yes the best plants are often the free plants!
Carol, May Dreams Gardens´s last blog post..Can You Garden Without Composting?