Re: Heirloom plants/sentimental plants
I have planted some things which were important to my parents and
grandparents for various reasons:
My father grew up on the Oklahoma/Texas prairie, when buffalo horns and
arrowheads were still to be found. His family, like so many other "free
range" cattle farmers, moved so often that plants were difficult to keep
with them. He said that every funeral he went to as a boy was filled
with the fragrance of honeysuckle, so that he could never smell
honeysuckle without thinking of boyhood funerals; that was often the
only time people got together, when someone died, so it became something
of a social occasion. He thought the honeysuckle was wild, but I have
been unable to discover exactly what kind it would have been. But I
have a patch of Hall's honeysuckle (out a ways from my garden area)
because of that.
For many years I have had some of the Egyptian Onions my grandmother
sent in the mail about 40 years ago. They are difficult to use in
cooking, but I keep them as ornamentals. She also was a collector, who
grew things which she felt were interesting for one reason or another.
I also read a great deal, and find myself looking for plants which have
had historic meaning at various times. I just put some Acanthus mollis
under an oak tree (where it could spread a bit without encroaching on
anything else). I planted it because the Greeks felt Acanthus was so
significant that they put it on their Corinthian columns. I can't think
of a more wonderful example of paying tribute to natural design. If I
had the time and money, I would plant whole gardens with literary or art
themes. I have seen the Shakespeare Garden at the Huntington Botanical
Garden, but I think mine would be far more detailed... Well, you get
the picture. I love plants for the symbolism, as well as for the plants
themselves.
Anelle
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