Hand Me Downs

Gardeners make good friends. 

Those that grow veggies will happily share their bounty with you--when the veggie in question is zucchini they will insist on it; those that grow beautiful perennials are happy to share as well.

Unlike annuals -- those marigolds, petunias or geraniums you plant each summer--perennials come back every year and usually double in size. And every couple of years, most perennials benefit from being divided. That's awesome when you are trying to get a new garden bed filled up, but it becomes something of a problem for gardeners once their flower beds are full. Perennials just keep on producing.

If you hang around someone's perennial garden long enough it will be hard to leave with out at least one "gift" plant in hand.

Which is exactly how my garden came to be full of hand me down plants.

My first ever "gifted" plant was spicy pink carnations from Marie Baker. Via Yvonne Sawyer, I have some of Nina Hackney's beautiful purple Phlox and fragrant yellow day lilies. My mind's eye can still see a tiny, sun hat clad Nina, out gardening among the giant Phlox that filled her yard.

I have irises and columbine I "liberated" from the Lagerquist homestead just ahead of the wrecking ball; rhubarb and lemon verbena from Ruth Webster, as well as a vigorous shrub rose she gave me that, every June, "bloom like a house afire and smell like heaven."

My gardens are full of memories. All these gardeners are gone now, but their memories, and their plants, continue to bloom on. I am happy to share this legacy with others.

Give me a shout, bring a shovel and few empty pots (also some hose mender parts for 1/2" to 5/8" hose, as I invariably cut my soaker hoses in half) and I'll be glad to share my memories –and my plants--with you.