Avid plant collector

I’m far from a Felder Rushing, but an avid plant collector I certainly am. I’m okay with some annuals, but I really push harder for perennial plants as I try to expand the jungle around my house.

Mrs. Doug Easley of Vardaman offered me a box full of orchids she dug out from around her home last week. That was music to my ears.

I didn’t know exactly where to plant them so I put them in a flower bed just off the back patio that is more diverse in ingredients than Cajun Jambalaya.

Kyle Jeffreys, of Coffeeville, did a project in my backyard years ago that attempted to get me a bit more organized, but it didn’t take. My late friend Dr. Jack Brown of Oxford and Hawaii, who helped me design the front bed around the house, always told me “if you like it, plant it.”

He planted a Dwarf Japanese Maple just outside my front door that is my favorite of everything in my yard. It’s thick, deep red and purple leaves are hard to look away from when sitting in my front porch swing.

I have loads of Hosta that I began collecting after doing a story years ago at Ann King’s house where she had a large collection down a fence line.

I have oak leaf hydrangeas dug up from Denley family land in Coffeeville. Several friends have come by over the years to get clippings off of them.

This year I have a number of camellias, gardenias and azaleas that don’t look like they are returning. One of the azaleas I rooted from one in front of mother-in-law Jo Ann Denley’s home place in Macon, so it’s extra sad to see that one not come back.

I have three large Cleyaras (Jack planted) that I love but all struggled after last year’s late spring freeze and this year it looks like one may be a goner for good.

Hydrangeas are one of my absolute favorites, particularly when you have an oak-shaded yard such as mine, and I’ve had relatively good luck with them. I see many places I need to add more.

My all-time favorite plant, however, is elephant ear. I collect them from every variety where ever I can get them. Ellen Shaw gave me a huge collection of elephant ears two years ago from an overgrown bed at her house but most failed to come back after last year’s late freeze. After the mixed weather of this winter and spring, I fear even fewer will burst through this season. I’ve already put Ellen on notice that if she has any more I need to come clean out I’ll be glad to.

Lorapetalums, Firepower Nandinas, a few Carolina Jessamine and some traditional Nellie Stevens’ Holly fill in gaps where I need them but they aren’t must haves for me. I will say I love a particular Nandina I saved that sat on the front corner of Frelon Bowles’ old home. After I acquired the property a few years ago and expanded my backyard to take in her old lot, I combed the premises hard for any good plants I could save before turning Joey Murphree loose on the old house. I have one great Nandina that has continued to thrive ever since.

I’ve cut wisteria off the side of the road in Reid, some elephant ears I found in a ditch in Slate Springs, a piece of a small fern I spotted in the woods near Oldtown cemetery, and never turned down an offer from anyone giving anything away. If you have some plants you need rid of, my shovel and I are always on standby.