Pass-along Plants

One of the greatest gifts a gardener can give or receive is a piece of a beautiful plant for their garden.  Every year when it blooms I remember the person it came from and think of them fondly.  Recently, this has become even more important to me as my mother passed on. She shared with me many divisions of plants from her small Cape Cod garden that often became over-crowded.

My mother really enjoyed gardening.  As a child  living in Connecticut, I remember  she grew red tea rose.  It seemed like Every night in the summer  she would dust  them with Rotone to keep the Japanese beetles at bay.  But I am sure it was not that often.

 When we moved to the Cape she always had some sort of a garden…even though the soil there was sandy due to the proximity to the shore. Once I started gardening  (in my late 20’s) and started the flower farm, I would bring her compost from Vermont.  I would dig up plant  roots of plants I loved from her garden to fill my decorative beds  in Waterbury.

Though most of these plants were common, I still enjoyed filling my garden with the ones she grew.

The cottage pink dianthus overflow on the side of my rock bed  providing wonderful spice fragrance in June.

The stately Franz Hall day lily blooms  amongst the other in my collection, reminding me of her. (As well as the artist I never really liked and believed was overrated.)

The Oriental poppy ‘Doubloons’  always delights me  with its huge crimson blooms and fuzzy ink black stamens.

 My mother was always in awe of the rich soil in Vermont and the effortless abundance my garden would provide to both flowers and weeds. Now that she is gone I must be careful to protect the plants she shared with me, keeping them weeded so i can continue to enjoy her memory when they bloom. Most of all I need to remember to share along pieces of my collection so that others can enjoy the blooms that I work so hard to grow. And make the world a more beautiful place…one bloom at a time.