Plants that give you most pleasure and their stories

[CorsicaDreaming]

I wondered if anyone else has a particular plant that they especially love or has an interesting story. With a photo of you have one.

You going to share yours? Otherwise you sound like a journalist trying to get us to write your story for you.

This is an abutilon megapotamicum. I've managed to get this one to a year old (I learnt the hard way that semi hardy is not frost proof).

I got it from a trip to Great Dixter with my mum for her 80th birthday. It was a lovely day out.

@Dilbertian - sorry! Fiddling around with the photo!

I have wild strawberries popping up in all sorts of unexpected places, from one hitchhiker that caught a lift on a jasmine my dm dug up and brought me from her garden.

This is my morello cherry. I planted it 3 years ago just after we moved in, as I've always wanted a cherry tree! I got enough fruit last year for a lovely cherry pie.

I also have a passion flower in the garden that I bought because we had one in my garden as a child and I thought the flowers were so beautiful. It hasn't flowered yet (first year last year) but it has some new leaves growing so I'm hopeful for this year!

I have a money tree my grandmother gave me. She died 33 years ago so has survived against the odds!

I have moved into a new garden this year. And it was empty. I have been adding and designing and learning.
my Nan who is 96 bought me a climbing rose from David Austin roses.
she helped me choose it and bought it for me. So special as it will always be there now. To remind me

@sixtiesbaby88 - wow that's amazing to survive for 30 years. A lovely link with your Nan.

I have a spider plant that I havehad since I was a child, I think it is actually an offspring of the spider plant grown from one of its baby offshoot spider plants – but it still feels like the original and that is about the same age as your money tree

@Paranoidandroidmarvin - that's lovely, plants do create great memories.

I took some cuttings from a beautiful old climbing rose that we had growing up the front in our old house. I had never tried taking cuttings from a rose before, but was amazed how well it worked. It had the most prolific yellow blooms from May right through to the first frosts and I do miss it. The cuttings have taken well, but I think it may be another year or so before I get a good display of roses from them.

This dwarf azalea was in the front garden in the first home Dh and I bought.
It had been planted by the previous owner who had died and was approx 20 years old when we moved in. We lived there 10 years and when we left our neighbour made me promise I'd take it with me. I was planning too anyway as we loved it but our neighbour had been really close to the previous owner and wanted it taking care of.
We've been in this house for 8 years and after a couple of moves after it had a strop over its position it's flourished. So approx 40 years old and still giving me this colour through the spring.

Sorry not the previous owner but the one before them.

I have two types of plants that bring me huge pleasure.

Geraniums. - My paternal Grandmother was a wonderful woman. She had a massive stroke when i was aged 5 and never recovered. She was only 55 when it happen and she died when she was 74. But I recall her love of geraniums. She used to propagate them and had a neat sleight of hand of picking off neighbours' plants and then growing them. Whenever I smell geraniums (and I have lasses of them) I am taken back to memories of her.

Alba roses - when I married DH we had everything we needed and did not want wedding gifts. People very generously said they wished to give us something and so i suggested Alba roses because that is what I planned for my bouquet. We received 17 plants and our garden is now filled with them. They make me very happy.

*masses

@AncientAzalea - it's beautiful. I'm very keen to get one. They are lovely flowers. What position did yours enjoy in the end?

I'm hoping to plant one against the north side of a wooden fence. In silty but slightly alkaline soil. Any advice ?

Erm....! Well she didn't like full sun. The soil is clay but I dug a huge hole and through a load of compost in. Then I soaked the rootball and replanted in an area that gets a little sun but not lots. No idea if that the best for most azaleas. ❤️

This is my ficus Benjamina which has survived over 20 years with me, from my teenage bedroom, through 6 years of uni houses, through moving in with my now husband, to getting our first house, having kids and now moving to our hopefully permanent home. Lots of memories she's been there for!

I've just got a decent sized garden and I'm finally able to try and recreate my grandfather's amazing garden on a smaller scale (my heart would love the third of an acre he had but I could never look after that! ) I've just planted rugosa rose rosarie de l'haie and can't wait for the scent to transport me back to childhood.

@AncientAzalea - thanks. It sounds like my spot might work well then as it will get partial shade most of the time. I've seen huge ones growing wild in Scotland and it's often under other trees so shady sounds like it might work.

@AncientAzalea Just goes to show we can still bloom in our 40's! That's seriously impressive.