HIBISCUS JEWELS

home is where the hibiscus is

i have a beautiful hibiscus. it belonged to my dear, departed grampa daly. actually, it's from a cutting of the original plant. that original plant was given to me, by him, raised to a nice big stature and then died in a central texas freeze. this one has survived in temperate northern california, tho it's periodically infested by aphids and i am constantly aware that i'm in possession of what anyone in my family would consider "a family jewel". my sister julie recently sent me an article about a family "jade tree" with a personal note about my obligation. :).

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i mean, just look at the pics above that i have posted! gem, mineral, vegetable - could anything be more beautiful? but have we attached some sentiment to this flower that goes beyond any sentiment that my grampa ever felt for it? i am quite sure we have. tho he and my (since departed) gramma had this plant in texas, i can't help but think that it reminded them of their early retirement days in florida.

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i visited florida recently and saw flowers like this on plants the size of trees! they retired to florida from chicago when they were (really) alive and had (alive) friends. they lived on the canals and fished and spent weekends in bimini. grandma told me that once she ate so much conch she invoked some latent allergy to shellfish and became bright red. i've seen pictures of these people and heard stories told of (and by) them - this version of my grandma and grandpa. i didn't really know them.

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so - find out and much as you can about your parents and grandparents and lovers and friends. share as much as you can about yourself with the people you know. because memories are precious and they enrich life. they can even make plants more special. even if i never own one of my mother's kalanchoes i'll remember that she often had them on the porch and that we learned, together, that our pronouncement of the plant's name was quite out of the main stream. when i see nandina i'll remember that it's one of the only things in my parents yard that the deer didn't eat.

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so what will make people remember me? wow! i wonder. well, whatever it is i hope it makes them smile....