After Katring -- Rescuing plants

[Guest guest]

For Elaine:

As I had related, earlier, my daughter works for a landscaper, and they have spent most of the past growing season restoring gardens and plantings that were destroyed by Katrina, as the home owners have rebuilt. Although some people are rebuilding, many are not, and so, there are so many empty lots which used to have homes and plantings.

So often, Becca would see an empty, overgrown lot, with some plants struggling to survive among the weeds. She mostly refrained from taking things at first, but knowing what could survive conditions and what could not, she at some point started rescuing plants and putting them in at our place, or in some cases, just clearing around a plant where it was and mulching it against hot, dry spells as watering in such a situation was difficult, if not impossible. For the rescued plants, she keeps a watch for people to start rebuilding and when they do, tells them that she has some of their daylillies, umbrella sedge, celosia, cassia, bananas, or whatever it was that she rescued, and that when they are rebuilt, she will bring the plants back and help them replant. Some are touched and grateful, now and then to the point of tears. Others thank her and say to pass the plants on elsewhere. One way and another, she has had ample opportunity to share as these plants have multiplied. She was already a "rose rustler" before Katrina, and is very good at propagating roses from cuttings, something I have never had much luck with. She has been sharing rose bushes like crazy with anyone who is rebuilding, and as we specialize in the ancestral and easy care varieties, they will do well no matter wheather or not the people are avid rose growers.

The sensational and heroic stories will get told, but I know that people also love to hear how small, good things can come of situations like Katrina. I may have told you that my son and all his neighbors had five feet of water in their homes. While I was running off to North Carolina to the mountaintop, they and their neighbors were pulling out crumbling sodden drywall and carpeting, and living in tents in backyards and carports while putting their homes back together. In their particular neighborhood, and, I am sure in many more, neighbors who barely knew each other came to be good friends and to depend upon and share with each other. Now their group of families have a barbeque on the anniversary of Katrina, to remember all the outdoor meals they shared during those weeks after the storm. This is a story that my daughter-in-law could tell so much better than I and filled out with particular incidents of sharing of material things and labor, and of just being there and supporting each other.

[Guest guest]

What a great story, I'm going to attempt my first try at growing roses from seed as well as cuttings, Becca sounds like the gal to ask if I have them.

Thanks for sharing, it's good to get reminders that there are lots of people who go out of their way to make a positive difference in the world without being asked to or expecting to get paid for it. Comes from the home and great parenting that will carry over into many many generations.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Newark, CA.

After Katring -- Rescuing plants

For Elaine:

As I had related, earlier, my daughter works for a landscaper, and they have spent most of the past growing season restoring gardens and plantings that were destroyed by Katrina, as the home owners have rebuilt. Although some people are rebuilding, many are not, and so, there are so many empty lots which used to have homes and plantings.

So often, Becca would see an empty, overgrown lot, with some plants struggling to survive among the weeds. She mostly refrained from taking things at first, but knowing what could survive conditions and what could not, she at some point started rescuing plants and putting them in at our place, or in some cases, just clearing around a plant where it was and mulching it against hot, dry spells as watering in such a situation was difficult, if not impossible. For the rescued plants, she keeps a watch for people to start rebuilding and when they do, tells them that she has some of their daylillies, umbrella sedge, celosia, cassia, bananas, or whatever it was that she rescued, and that when they are rebuilt, she will bring the plants back and help them replant. Some are touched and grateful, now and then to the point of tears. Others thank her and say to pass the plants on elsewhere. One way and another, she has had ample opportunity to share as these plants have multiplied. She was already a "rose rustler" before Katrina, and is very good at propagating roses from cuttings, something I have never had much luck with. She has been sharing rose bushes like crazy with anyone who is rebuilding, and as we specialize in the ancestral and easy care varieties, they will do well no matter wheather or not the people are avid rose growers.

The sensational and heroic stories will get told, but I know that people also love to hear how small, good things can come of situations like Katrina. I may have told you that my son and all his neighbors had five feet of water in their homes. While I was running off to North Carolina to the mountaintop, they and their neighbors were pulling out crumbling sodden drywall and carpeting, and living in tents in backyards and carports while putting their homes back together. In their particular neighborhood, and, I am sure in many more, neighbors who barely knew each other came to be good friends and to depend upon and share with each other. Now their group of families have a barbeque on the anniversary of Katrina, to remember all the outdoor meals they shared during those weeks after the storm. This is a story that my daughter-in-law could tell so much better than I and filled out with particular incidents of sharing of material things and labor, and of just being there and supporting each other.