Happening Now

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

Heirloom Flowers

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.

Heirloom Flowers Heirloom Flowers  Heirloom Flowers Heirloom Flowers  Heirloom Flowers

Bear and Sons

Heirloom Flowers  Heirloom Flowers

Heirloom Flowers  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: [email protected]

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