Plants can be special to us for a number of totally different reasons. First and foremost there are, of course, the various horticultural considerations. For example, we may value a plant because:
- It's easy to grow and helps us meet some landscaping challenge or other (drought, shade, pests, etc.)
- It looks great across multiple seasons
- In addition to looks, per se, it offers something to one of the other senses, such as a heady fragrance or (in the case of edible landscaping) a savory taste
But that is far from being the end of the story for those of us who are really "into" our plants. There are all kinds of emotional reasons why a given plant may be endearing to us (even if it's not exactly the flashiest plant on the block).
For example, we might feel a connection to a plant because:
- It was planted in memory of a special person or pet
- You associate it with some positive event in your life
- You associate it with a travel destination or childhood hangout that brings back pleasant memories
The latter is a compelling reason for me to be fond of bayberry shrubs. I associate them with Plum Island, one of my haunts as a boy. Bayberry displays its waxy gray berries in the wild there.
By the way, I'm referring to a beach in Massachusetts, not the Plum Island with which the greatest number of people are familiar, which is off the coast of Long Island. New York's Plum Island inspired a novel by the same name. Formerly the (active) home of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, a secretive government research facility, that Plum Island has also been subject to lots of controversial speculation. For example, a non-fiction book named Lab 257 speculates that Lyme disease originated there.
So make no mistake about it: the Plum Island of which I have fond memories has nothing to do with that one!
Read article: Bayberry Shrubs
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