My thoughts
wandered to my aged aunts (long gone) and how I always thought they were
incredibly old. They were much older
than my parents because dad was the youngest of seven children.
I remember
how the women all looked like they had bowed legs and how all old ladies bent over
in that unflattering way when gardening.
They all wore summer house dresses made of white muslin printed with
lavender flowers and rolled down nylons around their ankles worn with their
lace up black shoes. They always had on
an apron with pockets. All my aunts had
white hair (surprise) and it was either in a chignon or rolled tightly into a
long curl thing. I say curl thing
because it was a single roll from ear to ear and held in place with hairpins and
a hairnet. I realized this week; they were probably younger than I am
today. I pondered this and whether I
should consider a chignon. Heaven help
me if I bend over my flowers and have bowed legs – JUST MAKE THE VISION STOP!
Speaking of
old, there’s a flower catalog I particularly enjoy called “Old House Gardens – Heirloom
Bulbs”. www.oldhousegardens.com
 |
| 1604 Heirloom |
Call me
sentimental but I like having plants in my gardens with a long history of
survival. They may not all be flashy in
today’s sense of gardening but they are certainly hardy with a touch of pioneer
gentility thrown in for good measure.
Accustomed
to driving to our nearest nursery or big box outlet store, we grab bulbs and
plants as if they were grown on the blacktop the day before. Truth is many heirlooms were saved only
because someone abandoned an old home site and no one had bulldozed the site. There was a time when if it wasn’t new, it
wasn’t valued. Fortunately in recent
years, plant and seed savers have rescued many of these plants and some are now
plentiful enough for sales.
For the
most part (but not entirely) these heirloom plants are extremely hardy and have
proved this by enduring neglect, harsh conditions and almost extinction. What this means is if you plant them in the
right hardiness zone and according to needs, they will out live you and many future
generations..JPG)
Because
some of them are rare or as yet in short supply, some varieties may be
expensive. Another source is other
gardeners. If a fellow gardener says,
“Do you want a start?” the answer should be a quick, ”Yes!” But only “yes” if you actually do plan to
plant and care for the gift. I think we
all know someone who seeks a start and then lets it languish in the garage
until it’s beyond hope.
Gift
certificates for all things heirloom gardening can be great Christmas presents
for gardeners. They can choose from long
(almost eternal) lasting daffodils to “must be dug every fall” dahlias and
gladiolas. Or, a daylily breakthrough
in the 1800s and a Thomas Jefferson’s hybridized plant. Books such as “Flora Illustrata” or “Gerard’s
Herbal” are full of beautiful illustrations and historical data.
Visualization = not
always a good thing.
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