Who Has Plants That Are Family Heirlooms ?

[so lucky]

When we moved Mom and Dad out of their house and sold it, I had all the opportunity in the world to take cuttings and divisions of her many flowers. I didn't take a thing. The only reason I can think of was that I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of disposing of every shred of their former lives, appeasing my 3 siblings, working a job that was draining me totally, and dealing with my own debilitating health problems. The last thing I wanted was to drag a bunch of memories of that horrible period of my life home and plant them in my yard.

Now that a few years have passed, I suppose I wish I had taken a few things regardless of whether I wanted them. The house is still there, and probably still a lot of the perennials. Guess I could go knock on the door......

 

[thistlebloom]

When we moved Mom and Dad out of their house and sold it, I had all the opportunity in the world to take cuttings and divisions of her many flowers. I didn't take a thing. The only reason I can think of was that I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of disposing of every shred of their former lives, appeasing my 3 siblings, working a job that was draining me totally, and dealing with my own debilitating health problems. The last thing I wanted was to drag a bunch of memories of that horrible period of my life home and plant them in my yard.

Now that a few years have passed, I suppose I wish I had taken a few things regardless of whether I wanted them. The house is still there, and probably still a lot of the perennials. Guess I could go knock on the door......

I understand So Lucky . My sister urged me to bring home plants from moms garden when we down there cleaning up the horrible mess sibling #5 made of our parents home and yard. But I just couldn't deal with one more thing. I have plants she gave me during happier times and those are better memories.

 

[ninnymary]

so lucky, you have nothing to lose. Go knock on that door and explain to them how much it means to you. I bet they would be happy to give to you. I just hope they are still there.

Mary

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I sort of feel the same. While I am certainly glad we got the daylilies we did, part of myself keeps reminding me that we had over a YEAR when we were clearing the house out, and if I had been a little more proactive, I could have marked where all of the daylilies were while they were flowering and we could had gotten; if not every last one of them (one place was basically a bank of daylilies by now, so there were probably more than we would have had room for) at least a few of every possible color combination available. A part of me burns some nights from that, not only from the loss of additional colors but, theoretically, since Grandpa BRED them, the loss of some variety that actually might have been worth something (according to mom, while grandpa submitted a lot of his crosses to whatever association it is who decides which strains are marketable and deserving of a new cultivar name, none of them were accepted. However a little part of me always worries that, if they were re-submitted one of them might have been accepted this time, and that, by my inaction, we lost a potential moneymaker.)

 

[ninnymary]

Pulsegleaner, is it too late to go back during spring when they flower and get divisions from them? I would certainly try. At least go back and look at them. I think it would be very helpful to you.

Mary

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Too late, can't. We sold the house, the property doesn't belong to us anymore. And this isn't the kind of area where the people you sell your house to look kindly on the previous owners bothering them for any reason (actually, given the area, if the current owners knew the backstory of the situation, they'd probably try and get the daylilies registered under their own name, and then sue us for possession of the ones we took out before they bought the property).

I rather doubt that, given the state the garden was in when we left, the daylilies are even there anymore. When we left, the only "gardeny" things that were still around besides the daylilies were a few hostas and a very large flower of Sharon (which may actually be on the neighbors property, root wise. I suspect that, if they have the legs to garden themselves AT ALL (there's really no lawn there, so nearly the whole garden was on a series of narrow terraces you had to get up via a narrow stairway (and for the top level, where the vegetables one, you had to cross the terrace below and go up a switchback to get to the next one) or hired someone to do it, they probably pulled everything existing up and started again.

 

[Nyboy]

Pulsegleaner you might be suprized daylilies are tough, your grandfathers might still be there. I would send the owners a letter, asking if any are still there could you take a some. It might help if you offer to replace with someother plant. The worst that could happen is they say no.Don't say anything about one of kind.

 

[journey11]

When we moved Mom and Dad out of their house and sold it, I had all the opportunity in the world to take cuttings and divisions of her many flowers. I didn't take a thing. The only reason I can think of was that I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of disposing of every shred of their former lives, appeasing my 3 siblings, working a job that was draining me totally, and dealing with my own debilitating health problems. The last thing I wanted was to drag a bunch of memories of that horrible period of my life home and plant them in my yard.

Now that a few years have passed, I suppose I wish I had taken a few things regardless of whether I wanted them. The house is still there, and probably still a lot of the perennials. Guess I could go knock on the door......

Definitely understandable. I figure that happens to be the case a lot of times. Other priorities come first and that would be the last thing you'd think of.

We've also rescued perennials from an abandoned homestead back on the mountain where I hunt morels. My FIL was really tickled with a white fragrant peony he found out there.

When my favorite Granny on my mom's side passed, I really wish I had thought to get a start off of a yellow iris she had. She told me it was hybridized by a man in town who created many new irises and named them after the ladies he went to church with. This one was named "Anna" after her own mother. I was only 15 at the time and such things didn't interest me as much then. Neither my mom, aunt or grandma thought to take a sample either.

My MIL has some pink centered daffodils that are eroding into the little creek bank. I think I'll rescue a few starts and make sure that Ava and Savannah have them one day when they have homes of their own.

 

[canesisters]

I have Mom's Christmas cactus. I nearly killed it the first year - and saved several cuttings from it (just in case). Now it's 2 plants and still blooming. I have no idea how old it is. She got it as a cutting from an elderly neighbor who had a HUGE one when I was a kid. It's at least 35yrs old.

 

[Nyboy]

The lesson to be learned is, if a family member has a plant, take a divison or cutting now. later you might not get a chance.