I must be a distant relative of Johnny Appleseed.
It must be so because my mother does the same thing as I do. We are gatherers and rooters. She plants acorns and mountain laurels and Esparanzas and all sorts of other things. She roots cuttings of crepe myrtles and dozens of other plants.
My sister roots plants in zip lock bags filled with humus or else roots cuttings in jars of water and gets new plants from her old ones. I'll bet there is a jar of cuttings sitting in her window seal right now--remnants of her home in Athens she left behind.
I can not pass up an opportunity to pick off the dried seeds from a pretty plant at the zoo, a college, an eating establishment or wherever else I will find seeds. Leann did shame me when I picked off the spent zinnia bloom in the nursery but I just knew that plant would have looked prettier without the dead flower on it and thought I could benefit from the dead flower to boot. And if it makes Leann feel any better I must have placed the bloom in a bag and then lost track of the bag and never got to plant the seeds.
Last year on one of my expeditions to find beads for my crosses Caleb and Jennifer and I were eating outdoors at Taco Cabana and I spied the dates in a date palm tree. I had Caleb stand in his chair and stretch to pick off the dates for me. He could only reach four of the seeds. I have two little palms in pots from that expedition.
Recently on a trip through San Antonio we met Leann at Taco Cabana and I spied a palm tree loaded with tons of dried dates-perfect for picking and just the right height and when I reached out to touch one the whole dead stem loaded with the seeds just broke off and fell into my hands. What luck!! Now I have 87 little palms rooting in my studio.
I was just telling Randy today about your little palm seeds. Someday I want to get into growing plants and trees from seeds. Right now, it's all about growing little boys, and my flower beds show it!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about this "garden" I talked to Caleb about tonight; what it is I want in there to make it special.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to hit people I love up for extra plants they'd be willing to share, then every time I look at that plant, I'll think of them!
Get ready!!!
I'll give you a palm as soon as it is at a stage to give away! And then there are tons of other plants I can share. I love the idea!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, Amy, I always thought a plant swap party would be fun. Everyone brings several plants they can swap and for every plant you bring you can swap with someone else, like a cookie exchange.
ReplyDeleteLet's do this!
Gradening has always intrigued me. My Mom has a green eyeball...everything she just looks at grows and grows well. I always enjoy watching gardening shows and dreaming about the yard. Big plans, big dreans, little action. That needs to change.
ReplyDeleteI just got back from my weekend trip to Athens and had to smile when I read this thread. Yes, I did have jars of cuttings, but my friend Jane begged for them as a "reminder" of our friendship, so I gave her about 25 rooted gardenia cuttings. I wish I had kept a couple now. I do have two pots that I carried with us here with two ground covers that I wanted to grow again.
ReplyDeleteThe worse thing I've done in a nursery is pick up the broken stalks of a succulent that have fallen on the floor and put them in my purse. (Now, these were on the floor in sweepings to be thrown out and were about 3" long. It WASN'T shoplifting!) I brought them home and rooted them. I bought plenty from that nursery to make up for any lose of income from not selling me a succulent. No, Darla, I didn't break them off myself! I can't believe you did that! (:0), Yes, I can. )
My favorite gardening surprise was getting baby potatoes from the compost I had put in my gardening area. They had grown from the peelings! It was such fun. And remember the umbrella plant sending out babies. How did you word it, "I felt like I had grown a third arm, I was so proud."