Friday, February 01, 2008

Sedum Acre.....Passalong Pot Of Gold...Early Sign Of Spring

Special and favorite plants in my garden are those "Passalong Plants"...as we call them in the South....that I obtained from relatives and friends, thus they have a history and are meaningful to me. This baby sedum acre came from my dear Aunt Christine, who gave a start to me probably 50 years ago, and I have been growing and dividing and plunking sprigs of it all around ever since. I have happy thoughts of Aunt Chris each time I handle it. It is just now awakening from its winter sleep and starting to green up and puff up and in spring will be covered with golden flowers, thus the name "Pot of Gold". In the South we have a silly taboo to never say "Thank You" when you receive a "Passalong Plant" because if you do, then the plant is likely to fail to flourish or to die, so we say "Appreciate It" instead of "Thnak You". I guess this is a Southern gardener's inside joke since we love to share surplus plants with anybody who wants them. Go figure!

1 comment:

Annie in Austin said...

Hi John,,

That's a long time to own that passalong sedum - it's a good old-fashioned growing machine!

My grandmother wasn't from the South, but she imposed the "don't thank me for it" rule for handing plants down, too. It seemed to be more of a religious thing with her - something like the plant couldn't grow unless God allowed it, so thanks went to heaven rather than to the human who was the vehicle rather than the source.
I'm explaining it badly, but I was a kid at the time!

I see you have one daffodil open - guess spring is on its way to your garden.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose