I had a whole newsletter written for today and then realized that I’d completely forgotten that this Sunday is Father’s Day! So after a few attempts to rewrite my newsletter, I decided you’ll have to read about how I became a “Florida Man” later. And as luck would have it, just as I was puzzling over what to write, my dad sent me this picture, with the caption “The ‘almost dead’ honeysuckle has a friend!”
Obviously, this needs some explanation. Some months back my dad came out to the Nursery to get a few things for his garden, and one of the items on his list was a Coral Honeysuckle. If you’ve ever planted this vine, you know that it is hardy (it’s a Florida native), it’s low maintenance, it’s beautiful, and it attracts butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. Win-win-win-win. Because of that, it’s pretty popular and so we can’t always keep it in stock. And that was the case on this day. We were out. But then I remembered seeing one bedraggled pot of it somewhere. I just couldn’t remember where it was. So I did a little dash around the Nursery to spots where we try to hide plants that are past their prime.
When I did find it, it was in worse shape than I’d thought. It seemed like maybe it had two or three plants in the pot, but only one was showing signs of life. But as you may remember from an old Father’s Day Life Lived Outside, my dad isn’t one to throw things away. Things can always be fixed. A little duct tape, a new screw, there are ways to keep things working. Or in this case to give something a chance to thrive. So he took this Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree honeysuckle home with him and gave it a little TLC, and wouldn’t you know the entire plant perked up. So much that he was able to split it into two plants to give the first a friend!
A good reminder for all of us that plants want to live… if we just give them a chance. (Watering is probably the most important thing we can do and is the subject of our Teaching Thursday: How to Be a Watering Pro.) And this lesson of making things work and bringing things back to life is a life-long lesson that I was taught by Dad. So thanks, Dad, for all the lessons you’ve taught me along the way; this one, at least, sunk in pretty well! Happy Father’s Day to my dad and all of the dads, uncles, grandpas, and father figures out there.
