Garden Legacies

When my friend Nancy was moving from Greenville to Birmingham a few years ago, I asked her if I could dig up some of her flowers for my yard. I couldn't think of a better way to keep her close than something I would see growing and changing through the seasons. I planted the small clump about four years ago and it has flourished and spread. It is really a small plant of about ten inches now and the blooms are tiny, but because of the magic of macro photography, this makes them look unnaturally big. When I was a home health nurse, a patient in the country insisted that I take a bunch of her day lilies. Those day lilies were so prolific, I was able to bequeath them to other gardeners as well. I have pretty obedient plants blooming their blue spikes in late summer and always think of the nurse friend who gave them to me when I admire their beauty and toughness. Though I am not much of a gardener anymore, I still can't think of anything more long lasting than a living plant to pass along as a remembrance.