Oops there goes another.....

My grandmother had a green thumb that may even put Mr. Green Jeans and Liberty Hyde Bailey, Jr. to shame. She was the type of gardener that would scout the local stores for the sickly sad little plants whose prices had been slashed for a quick sale. Lovingly and patiently she would nurse them into healthy and huge oxygen producers.

One of her largest success stories came in the form of a rubber tree plant, more like a sprig, that was purchased on sale from K-mart. It was the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree of rubber tree plants. She was able to take the little plant from a sparse twig to a tree that strained to escape the confines of her cathedral ceilings.

Over the years, my grandmother would give visiting family members and friends clippings from this prodigious plant. It was one of the only ways that she could keep the beast contained and she loved "passing it on". There are cuttings spattered across this coast from Florida to New Jersey.

My mother now has the largest surviving sprig of The Rubber Tree plant. Last night, Trey and I helped to re-locate the plant inside as the first of the winter frosts was set to descend upon Virginia Beach. Moving the tree takes two adults on the bottom, with the help of some well placed furniture movers, and a third adult positioned at the top of the plant to help coax the branches through the doorways. Now that we have the process down to a science, we can get the monster moved in under 10 minutes.

The Rubber Tree has become an odd tradition in our life. When we call mom, we usually ask about how the tree is faring. Does it seem happy in its new location? Has it been set a kilter by the wind? Clearly, this tree and its well-being intermingles with our happy memories of my grandmother.

Yesterday, my mother thoughtfully cut me a new sprig off the tree so that I could plant it here at our new place so I could have my own reminder of my grandmother at my own home. She carefully placed it in a bucket of water to root. She gently reminded me to remember to put it in the car before I left.

I forgot it...