Calhoun County Gardening – Preserve Your Heritage: The Importance of Saving and Sharing Heirloom Plants with Future Generations

Calhoun County, AL – I want to encourage all gardeners to visit your family & ask about heirloom plants in the yard? You may need to visit your grandparent’s old home places to rescue the flowers.  If you set a good example the next generation will collect more family heirloom plants to pass down to loved ones. I treasure several heirloom plants of mine. The most important flowers to me are my mother’s favorite gladiolus. These corms are called Plum Tart. I kept them in the ground from 2018 – 2023. I dug up the corms & let them dry in a shed, then stored them indoors until Spring 2024. After 3-5 years the corms will start reducing in size unless you give them a winter rest indoors. My second special keepsake is my mother’s Zebra White Calla Lily, with speckles on the leaves & white florets. Calla Lily can stay in the ground, and will bloom every spring. I have heirloom three-generation yellow Angels Trumpets. These Trumpets die back in the winter but return in the spring.  They grow up to nine feet tall before blooming coffee cup-sized yellow flowers. Trumpets can be cut back in the fall and the stems root easily in a Mason jar of water. These extra-rooted Trumpets are great heirloom gifts. I also have three-generation orange Tickseed that can produce vertical ferny stems up to nine feet. Tickseed is loved by bees, butterflies, hummingbirds.  The most special seeds I enjoy gifting are called yellow Wild Hybrid Hibiscus Mallow. Mallow can survive many blackberry freezes, but I collect seeds to ensure success. I also have Lily bulbs three generations that are double orange. And my farmer friends gifted me a rare type of Iris called Resurrection White. These Resurrections online sell for $11.00 – $14.00 each rhizome. They are the largest iris in my collection of Iris. I hope you are inspired to protect your heirloom flowers.

Betty Clark is a contributing writer. She has been an organic gardener since 1998. The signature flower she grows is Dahlias. She has a straw bale garden, raised bed garden, and in-ground garden. Both her surnames are agricultural farming families (8 generations). Her hobbies include ancestry research, antiques, continued education classes, and workshops. She also has a background in marketing & promotions including expos. To contact Betty Clark with gardening questions: bettyclark2151959@gmail.com

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