K is for Kenilworth Ivy

My mother grew this in the rock walls of the patio.  It survived purely on the moisture retained in the stones.  Not hardy in zone 6, it self-seeds happily when conditions are right:  dappled shade, moisture.  It is Cymbalaria muralis, a sweetly descriptive plant name.

I pulled some cuttings before she died.  These are like the Johnny jump-ups.  They go where they please, and I don't try to regulate location, size, or spread.  They are a link to my origins and memories.

Comments

[Carole]

Having heirloom plants is fantastic. I have some daylilies that came from an old neighbor at my first house and I cherish them.

[Rachel H]

I love that. I'd never thought of using plants as living connections to our past. What a wonderful thing to have.

[Martha]

How lovely! I've never heard of Kenilworth ivy before.

[Chris]

Comforting, isn't it, to have a living link. I have cuttings off two plants from my mom, who got cuttings from one of her brothers, who got his cuttings off the original plants from my grandmother.

[margene]

That's a new ivy for me. Different flowers bring back memories of my mother and grandmother. Mother loved orange flowers and g-ma pink peonies. How wonderful you saved the very plant your mother grew.

[JessaLu]

Amazing how plants can bring us back. Whenever I see a Jack-in-the-Pulpit I am reminded of my maternal grandmother - and the peonies I *ahem* stole remind me of my paternal grandmother ;o)

[SpiderWomanKnits]

When I was studying to be a Celebrant we talked about the planting of memory gardens as a form of ceremony.

What a sweet post and lovely memory :-)

[Cordelia]

How lovely to have a plant for memories-sake.

[lisa Co. Springs]

What pretty ivy.
I have a moss rose like that, it originally belonged to my great-grandmother, my grandma had it in her garden, and my mother has had it in both of hers. I have had it now in three different houses, and although the strawberries languished under the renters, the moss rose seems to have flourished and spread, even coming up through a crack in the sidewalk. I'm looking forward to it blooming this year, to welcome me back to Colorado.

[Norma]

Sigh. I envy your zone. I'm a 3, marginally a 4. Sort of sounds like middle-school girls comparing cup size, eh?

[Dorothy B]

At first I thought these were tiny little lily pads!
I also have a memories plant. My Mother managed to get the ivy in my wedding bouquet to root and now I have a beautiful plant in the corner nearest to our wedding picture. My Mother-In-Law has a cutting, my Mother has a cutting and there is one in my spare room as well as my daughter's room. I'm hoping to continue to get cuttings from the parent plant as long as it will let me and if it lasts long enough, provide some cuttings for my daughter's wedding bouquet. She's only two. I might need a miracle!

[ann]

that ivy is so sweet! I have lillies of the valley that came from my mother's garden and before that, her mother's garden!

[Heather R]

Those are beautiful- Do you think they would work as a ground cover? I have decided I love my neighbors, as they propogate their myrtle bushes and gave me several for my front walk last weekend. To be honest, I had been coveting their shrubs for some time, but was afraid to ask...

[Cathy]

Love the ivy and the connections. In fact, the older I get the more I cherish plants with history.

[LeAnne]

Hey! Love the garden photos. My yard looks pretty, um, bad right now since I'm the only one who cares for it and first I was training for Ironman and now I'm, well, you know...incapacitated. Thanks for all the good words and wishes.

[Juno]

I love that stuff. It will fill a flower bed in a season with the tiny pink flowers and clover-y leaves but I've never known the name.

[Chris]

Your plants have such great stories! How many letters can you keep this up??

[Cheryl]

Beautiful. I have some family plants like that, that I'm hoping to snag cuttings of before my grandmother goes.