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Living Legacies

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By B.C. MANION, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

TAMPA - They may be clippings or scraps.

A pup, a bulb or a 6-inch starter plant.

They're handed from one person to the next, pass-along plants and cuttings that often reflect givers' interior lives - the people they cherish, the adventures they've had, the passion they feel for cultivating beauty.

Stroll through Adrienne DeNisco's Tampa garden and you'll see a staghorn fern that weighs hundreds of pounds.

"This was given to me by my dad. It was, like, three little leaves," she says.

He got his plant from her brother-in-law and a friend, who found the original staghorn while out scouting for plants in the Everglades 40 years ago.

"Whenever I look at it, it makes me happy. It reminds me of my dad," she says.

A pagoda plant with huge, gorgeous blooms dominates another spot in her yard. It came from Shirley Brown, a Hillsborough County master gardener.

"I saw this magnificent plant in her yard. I said, 'Shirley, it's just so beautiful when it's blooming.' She says, 'I have another one started,' and she gave it to me."

Brown died of cancer a year ago. But through her gift, part of her still grows and creates beauty in DeNisco's world.

Reminders of another friend sprout all over DeNisco's yard - all over the county, in fact.

Lucy Hoyt's generosity is legendary among gardeners. Whenever she gives a talk at a local library, she lugs in boxes of free plants to pass along. The Hillsborough County master gardener from Tampa just can't bear the thought of tossing away something that will grow.

So when she prunes, she explains, she makes sure she has pots and potting soil nearby so she can propagate as she snips.

But not every plant is a worthy pass-along. Hoyt heeds the advice in a book called "Pass-along Plants," by Steve Bender and Felder Rushing.

1. The plant must have value - a special fragrance, a long-lasting bloom or a history that gives it meaning.

2. It must be easy to grow in local conditions and should be pest-free. Nobody wants a plant that attracts bugs or disease.

3. And it must be easy to propagate by seed, cutting or division.

"The plant that I pass along most is an old red penta," Hoyt says.

She got it from her friend Madeline Hall, who was moving to a retirement community.

"Her mother got a start of this flower in the mid-1940s," Hoyt says. "It seems to be pest-free and easy to start. There's always butterflies all over it. Every time I look at that penta, I think of Madeline."

Norma Bean goes a step further. Whenever she gets a pass-along, she names it for the person who bestowed it. As she surveys her South Tampa garden, she can easily pick out Charlene and Buddy, Donna, Fermin and Siev.

The plants are not just mementos - reminders of friends and loved ones. They're a true continuation of life and spirit, a passing of the flame from one candle to the next, a sharing of beauty.

Says Bean, "That's what we do."

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 865-1507 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

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