Pass-Along Plants

I saw a post on Facebook that resonated with me. Here’s what Linda H.R. was lamenting:

Anyone besides me remember the days of “Passalong Plants”? These were plants that were handed from one person to another. Nearly every time we would visit a relative or they would visit us…there was always a walk in the garden “to see what was blooming or coming up.” There would be newspaper to wrap them in to take a cutting or some plants home.

My first home after I got married…my parents visited with a cardboard box with irises wrapped in newspaper to plant which I did all up the side of the yard. Another memory was my grandfather telling me this this was his mother’s rose…I never thought about keeping that tradition going. I wish I had a cutting of that rose now.

Gail Lee Martin was one who loved to give away cuttings from her garden and divide her iris to share. Yes, they were wrapped in damp newspaper to keep them happy until they reached their new home.

Mom’s surprise lilies in the side yard

Colorful geraniums by the back door

The climbing roses

Now, I have my own version of pass-along plants. When I take cuttings or divide plants, I put them in a shady place in my driveway. Then I put a notice with photos on the Next Door Neighbors page for my retirement community. Before very long, all the plants get picked up.

The most recent batch included red sisters which were too leggy, some moses-in-the-cradle, an asparagus fern, and some baby elephant ears. I hope all plant lovers keep the tradition going of sharing their plants.

Free plants for my neighbors.

Spring in Kansas

One of Gail Lee Martin’s favorite people, Eva Tower posted about spring in Kansas. I know Mom would have loved her description.

A road curves through the Flint Hills in South-Central Kansas. (photo courtesy of Pixabay)

The “burning season” is almost over. On the Flint Hills, everything has begun to look nice and green again. And the cattle have begun arriving for another “fattening”

All the trees in their different shades of green and once in awhile in a clearing redbuds in their pink glory, plowed fields and in the distance large plumes of smoke. Beautiful spring day.

Eva Tower took this photo of a row of redbud trees in bloom (El Dorado, Kansas). 2019

Going Batty

In 2009, I went along with my grandchild’s field trip to the zoo. They didn’t stay in the cave with the vampire bats very long. I prefer the fruit bats because they’re easier to see in the tree limbs above. I remember as a child laying on our front walk & seeing a bat in the branch over my head.

My sister Karen K., said, “You did not! I think you’re making things up now!”

No, it’s very true, I was probably 10 or 12. I ran off screaming for mom. My second time to see a wild bat was in my living room on Marsha Street in Andover. It flew in as someone was leaving. Ginger and Larry are my witnesses. A friend, Terry Fleming, was bitten by a bat while on vacation 4 years ago and had to have rabies shots.

A photo from Pixabay of bats taking a nap in a tree.

Karen K. -Ok, now that I think about it, there might have been bats in the abandoned homestead there on our property, although I never saw any, not even in that really cool cellar. I loved that old building! It fascinated me. We had a huge flowering badam (almond) tree outside our bedroom window in Ahmedabad and you could look right out at the large fruit bats. Our windows weren’t screened, but they never came into the house.