Many of us have plants and trees that are special to us. As part of National Garden Week, several RGC members shared pictures and thoughts about some of the items special to them. This blog post’s feature image is of a plant special to Linda B–Linda shares that, after more than 30 years and two moves, I still have the old fashioned bleeding heart plant that started out in my mother’s garden in Pennsylvania. That’s pretty special.

Linda Lee – 20 years ago Ron and I walked out of an old K-Mart and saw a rose bush with no flowers or leaves for 75 cents. Ron said it needs a home. Whatever color it turns out to be he said we will call it The Princess Rose after me. It bloomed a month later on Mother’s Day a year after my mother died. Today it still blooms with the most delicious fragrance.

On May 13th I participated in a Zoom panel discussion about the re-establishment of indigo on the Georgia coastal islands and the historic horticulture and use of indigo by African Americans. This was facilitated by SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). Indigo was the most lucrative cash crop, ahead of cotton, in Colonial times. Used to dye textiles, the labor intensive procedure needed to extract the dye was accomplished…

The Heirloom Garden by definition is one comprised of carefully cultivated seeds collected from open-pollinated flowers and vegetables and handed down from one generation to the next. These can be 50 years of a line or more. For most home gardeners, an Heirloom Garden or even just one heirloom plant has sentimental value. It could have come from your parents or grandparents home, it could have been given as a gift from someone special, or even planted in memory of a lost pet or loved one.

When we change homes, if at all possible, we carefully dig up our beloved plants and take them with us…