I recently had the opportunity to visit a few homes on the Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden Tour. In this self-guided charity event, real people with real (self-made) gardens open them up to the public. It is free but a donation is requested for the charities that Mary Lou favored.
While at the first house, I was talking to the hostess when someone came up to her and asked her where she had obtained a specific plant. It is not found in any local nurseries. The hostess explained that she received a piece of it from her mother who had received a piece from her mother (the hostess’ grandmother). Immediately, I thought of genealogy and that I don’t even know what my mom’s or grandmothers’ favorite plants were!
My mom and grandmothers died before I became interested in genealogy. But when I asked my dad about this, he said when they had to move to a larger house, my mom wanted to take the Pittosporum tobira from the first house with them. It is still growing as a hedge at my dad’s house and I will have to get some for my yard now that I know this. To be “authentic” I’ll try to get an offshoot from his.
He also said his mother liked ‘Seven Sisters’ Roses. I’d never heard of this plant, but after reading about it, now I know something new.
If you’ve downloaded the inventory spreadsheet from my last post, you’ll see that the last row is now labeled “Plants”. I don’t know if I’ll start growing plants related to my family’s past, but I’ll have to think about it.
Happy Mothers’ Day to all of you who are mothers!
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