Finding a Rare Breed

Today's entry may seem off the subject of glass and jewelry, but if thought about, I'm sure you could find a connection. Let me preface this gardening story by explaining that this garden is one my husband and I are doing to showcase some glass garden art in.

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they come across someone they know is a rare breed. Well yesterday it was my turn. This rare breed was the gracious couple whom my husband and I met after we answered the wife’s ad in a local county recycling website called freecycle.org. She had some daylilies to give away, and me being the plant lover that I am, just knew that these would work great in my newly dug beds.

So after arranging our pick-up day and calling before leaving the house, as we were instructed to do, we went to pick-up what we thought would be a few plants for our flower beds. Following her meticulously well written directions we turned the corner onto their street and saw this beautifully manicured lawn with flower beds any landscaper would be envious of. There she was in her driveway tending her gorgeous babies wearing her gardeners wide brim hat with neck flap. You could tell this was something she did a lot of!

After the formal introductions were made it was down to the business of gathering up my daylilies, or so I thought. On her list she had sent me she had included 14 other plants she had that she would give me starts of and/or seeds of. She asks which ones I want, and I tell her I was hoping for a little of each.

So she proceeds to dig, pull and start teaching me everything I needed to know about each and every plant she is giving me. This was so exciting! She had Phlox, Widows Tears, Celome, Yarrow, Chrysanthemums, Coreopsis, Coxcomb, Butterfly Bush, Shasta Daisies, and a lot more! Oh, if I had only brought a tape recorder!

My fear was that with my bad memory I would be lucky to find my way out of the housing edition let alone remember all this great knowledge. But then she said those magic words I was hoping to hear, “you can always email me if you have any questions”. Yeah! Now I knew there was a chance all these beautiful plants might make it till next summer after all.

While in the middle bagging up all these beautiful starts her husband, who had just finished mowing the lawn, brought my husband and I out these delicious tomato sandwiches. The bread was toasted to perfection and just the right amount of mayo was added then topped with this huge thick slice of tomato. The tomatoes were out of his own garden, and were the best tomatoes I have ever tasted.

Once we had finished our sandwiches here he comes with a cup of water to help wash everything down. It was the best working lunch I’ve ever had!

An hour later, when all the digging and pulling was over, our entire car was loaded with bags of plants and seeds, most of which weren‘t even on the list to begin with. My husband and I were both overwhelmed at how gracious and giving these two were. It was an amazing afternoon spent with an amazing Master Gardener (to be) and her husband. When we left I no longer had that “Oh my gosh, can I keep these plants alive?” feeling, because I knew If I ever have any questions I’ll just email Jan!

As a footnote to this story I just want to say THANK YOU to Jan and her husband for their great hospitality and to Jan for all the beautiful plants. We spent the rest of the day into the night planting and still have more to plant today.

But I have faith that with all the great instruction you gave me, not to mention the fact that I have your email address as a backup, theses babies will be o.k.