IT WAS THE MORNING AFTER, WHEN THE CONVERSATION finally turned to confessions about our first times—the morning after my longtime garden mentor and I attended a garden lecture and dinner together, I mean. Back at my place the next morning, over toast and coffee, we made our confessions one by one: plants we’ve lusted over, and the first time we’d laid eyes on each seductive creature. Sigh.
We’d been to hear another old friend, Dan Hinkley, speak at nearby Berkshire Botanical Garden’s annual lecture with several hundred other winter-weary types, and afterward gone off with Dan and friends to eat.
We didn’t really talk plants at the meal; nine crazy gardeners traded pet stories. I know—insane. Either we are getting old and soft, or have spent too much time on Cute Overload. But the next morning my breakfast guest and I shifted from zoology to botany, stirred up by a few of Dan’s slides, including one of Mukdenia rossii ‘Crimson Fans,’ a shade plant Dan’s helped bring to market as part of his relationship with wholesaler Monrovia nursery.
My breakfast companion remembered his first Mukdenia…but he knew it by another name.
It was 1967ish, and the plant was then Aceriphyllum rossii. “I remember sitting by a stream in the New York Botanical Garden rock garden and seeing it for the first time,” said Marco Polo Stufano. “A good plant.”
At that moment I was feeling preoccupied with the one-trick genus Sciadopitys, and just finishing up a post on the umbrella pine.
“When was your first umbrella pine?” I asked, suspecting Marco’s “first” had been the same individual plant as mine. Yes, indeed, he’d been taken in by the same specimen at Planting Fields Arboretum as I, though we would have been strangers and seen it separately, years apart.
And off we went from there: first sightings of really good silver-leaved things like Stachys and Ballota, first fill-in-the-blank…plants that touched our hearts (or made them bleed). Of course many of my first were at Wave Hill, where Marco made a career and an entire landscape of his pioneering plantsmanship.
“The first time you see a plant makes an impression,” said Marco, who always kept a little notebook with him on his travels to England and elsewhere, with a heading called “GET” for the ones. “You never really change your mind about the plant.”
So tell me, what were some of your memorable first times that rated a “GET” on your list? Was caused that instant and irresistible chemistry, and has the feeling lingered on?
beloved conifer: japanese umbrella pine 
a plant i’d order: hakonechloa ‘all gold’ 
Bobster, I’m with you – the coveted Ladyslipper we’d stumble upon in the woods as children in Massachusetts was like stumbling upon a fairy’s treasured possession. The sight of translucent green gooseberries in the summer garden or bright pumpkins bursting through their giant leaves in the fall was also magical. No matter where I live, I plant a garden, if only to stir the feelings of my childhood. This year, my yard is tiny, so I am planting small raised beds to fill with herbs and vegetables (There is a raised bed tutorial on my website, Quackadoodle.com). I also filled the side of my yard with perrenials, including the shrubby gooseberry bush. A pumpkin plant climbs my border fence, and I still walk the woods in search of ladyslippers.
Welcome, Paula. For me, Grandma’s zinnias and even marigolds…they look so familiar, and remind me of her and all those years ago. Thanks for visiting; see you soon again.
OK, Wayy back when I was at home on the farm.
Mom raised callifornia poppies in DAKOTA!
Do you believe everyone has memory of first garden
hidden somwhere in their mind?
This year, I started these 4 petaled fragile
golden beauties with ferny leaves in long pots.
Not blooming yet – but they are thriving..
Margaret, I am in lust with peonies. I haven’t met one yet that I haven’t wanted. My nana used to cut her first peony in flower and decorate my (June 6th) birthday present with it. So this became twice as nice! I have moved too many times to really make a collection, but my husband and I just bought our “forever” house, so I am going to start now.
Expanding from flowers to veggies, I planted zucchini this year. Sadly, only male plants…no fertilized females so no fruit. I thought zucchini practically grew by themselves and the biggest problem was the enormous size of the harvest. What did I do wrong?
Welcome, Karen. This is a great question…and often the answer is “nothing.” Pollination, when not possible or not complete, can cause fruit to abort (or even flowers not to be fertilized at all). Weather and lack of pollinators (honey bees) can be factors. Some varieties pollinate themselves, but do you know what variety you planted (and what has your weather pattern been)?
Hi Margarget,
Thanks for responding to my comment. The zucchini seems to be Ward’s house brand. The card states only zucchini squash. And we have the same weather pattern. I am your neighbor in Ancramdale. Such a difficult and disappointing year! Still, we have been self sustaining with lettuce and other greens for about 2 months. It’s divine.
Karen
I was happy to see your tomatoes. I have heard that this is not a good year for tomatoes or peppers but, to my surprise and amazement, I have a beautiful tomato plant growing in my daughter’s memorial garden. We had dirt brought in and the seeds must have been in there, as we have five or six throughout the flowers. But, this one is of particular interest as it is huge with many tomatoes. We have had so much precipitation here in Iowa, over 35 inches and normal for the year is 38 inches and with four months to go with cooler than normal temps, I just hope we have a long fall so my tomatoes will ripen. I do not have a garden, just flowers, but I did plant four green bell pepper plants in my flower bed, and have enjoyed some beautiful tasty peppers. I enjoy reading your articles, this is the first time I have responded. The tomatoes got me. Thanks Bobbi
Welcome, Vivian. I am so glad to hear from you in a comment, and to learn of the memorial garden and the erratic weather there (here, too) and all of it. “The tomatoes got me,” you say. That made me smile. Thank you. See you soon?
I was raised in apartments by a single mother. Mom took care of the houseplants. I was a late-bloomer to plant romance, but I remember when true plant love really hit me. I’d been a WSU Master Gardener for years, and grew veges and herbs. But the first time I made the acquaintance of the the Chinese tree peony ‘Purple Robes in Temple Courtyard’ it was love at first sight. Later, but with a deeper, more mellow love, I met Brugmansia ‘Charles Grumaldi,” and that has been the true love of my life since.
I grew up in a rowhouse in Philadelphia with no backyard and a postage stamp sloped lawn in front. All my friends and relatives lived in houses like mine so my knowledge of flowers and trees were quite limited. But my mother planted irises in front of the hedges that bordered our tiny patio and every year I was allowed to cut a few for my teacher. I have such wonderful memories of irises (which we called “flags,”) to this day when I see them I smile. There are other flowers too; my grandmother had lilies of the valley in her postage stamp garden….love them….and my aunt brought me daffodils when I was a very little girl sick in bed with chicken pox. I still remember my delight and they are favorites of mine. My mother loved lilacs and pussy willows….I have a mother plot in my garden with those planted there. And walking home from school, taking shortcuts, I found someone’s small garden with honeysuckle growing over the fence! My neighbor across the street had a hydrangea which we called, “snowballs.” I amaze myself that even with my very limited experience with gardening as a kid, I can have these memories and loves.
Spending some time on your blog I came across this post (which I read when you first published it) and it reminded me of the first time I saw ceanothus in bloom at the tender age of 16. Surprisingly, it was in my English aunt’s back garden where it had pride of place just off their large terrace. Funny that I had to go all the way to England to appreciate a west coast native. I planted C. thyrsiflorus ‘Victoria’ at my last home, and I have two three-year-old teenage Victorias busy trying to camouflage a chainlink fence in my current garden. I’ve also acquired C. ‘Diamond Heights’, a gorgeously variegated lime green and dark green specimen (zone 9, but I’m giving it a chance.) And I still want more!
Mine was actually the hibiscus that lined the small pebble-filled walk from my condo the the beach in Souther Florida growing up. They were so vibrant and seemed HUGE to me. It was like being in a fairytale.
I have forever memorialized them with a tattoo actually.
Welcome, Destiney. Love the tattoo story! Guess you really fell for that plant. Hope to see you soon again.