We often refer to an heirloom plant as a pass-along. These are very dear to us, but there is an even more important garden pass-along, which is the garden practices and garden knowledge we adhere to in our own gardens.
Not a tip or a trick or a bit of wisdom...but neat still in this vein...
...a couple of months ago, a woman and her daughter were sitting in their car outside of our house looking at the yard and house. The woman seemed to be talking animatedly to her daughter as if explaining some important things. Dirtdorphins finally approached them and asked if there was anything she could do for them.
The woman explained that our house was the house she grew up and and asked if she could take her daughter through the yard and share some of her memories with her kid. Dirt agreed. So they wandered around (I ended up joining the trio, finally) and listened to some stories. Then the woman started talking about her (deceased) mother's gardens and the irises she'd planted.
Longish story short, she left with a trunk full of her mother's irises...and left us with thanks and gratitude. It was kind of neat.
We didn't know they were pass-alongs, but they sure were to the erstwhile little girl who grew up in our house and yard.
Scratch that...Dirt did pass along some really good advice on planting and caring for the intergenerational iris. So there's that.
Name: Bonnie Sojourner Harris Brake Lake, Arkansas (Zone 7a) Magnolia zone
Yes, a pass-along plant with pass-along knowledge but you also passed along a bit of joy, and respect for growing things and gardening in general. And the girl will not forget the thread a plant can weave throughout generations. Even if, as she grows up, she puts a distance between herself and that experience, one day she will go searching for those irises and pass-along the story you and Dirt created. smiles
Thro' all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing; It finds an echo in my soul— How can I keep from singing?
