Northeast's Blog

Columbine, Alzheimers, and a Mystery Clematis.
Sep 19, 2008 | 5:53 AM PST

Over a decade ago, I purchased some columbine seeds.  I knew nothing of these flowers, but I had some large maple trees that I had just landscaped around, and I wanted to circle them with flowers.

The picture on the packet was beautiful, so I spread the seeds around the trees.  Years passed, and nothing came up.  Truthfully, I had forgotten about the columbine, having planted annuals around these trees instead.

Then, one year, I noticed something had sprouted in the spring.  Finally, my columbine decided to join the party.  I dug up the small plants, and relocated them to the end of my driveway, where all passersby on the busy road could admire them.

They truly were beautiful flowers.  Evidently, they were a pretty special bicolored hybrid.  I've gotten many compliments on them, from people who were knowledgable about columbine, but never saw one like these.

One day, after years of having these (now lush) flowers growing at the end of my driveway, an elderly man drove up my driveway and introduced himself.  He noticed my columbine, and asked if he could take some seeds when they were ripe.

Of course, I told him that he could, and we talked about gardening for hours.  He would visit from time to time, and it became evident that he was suffering from early stages of alzheimers.  One day, he came up my driveway, and had important news for me...they put petroleum based wax, on the fruit and veggies in the grocery store!

He had clipped off pieces of the cardboard boxes from the produce, that warned of these wax coatings.  Here, he had proof of some grand conspiracy!  We talked at length about why we prefer to grow our own food, and this waxing of produce was one reason.

I would see him in the grocery store from time to time, and he never knew who I was.  I would talk to him, and he was happy to converse with me, but I realized that he had no idea who I might be.  When I would remind him, he would instantly smile, and recall our long talks about gardening.

Well that was about 5-7 years ago, and just recently I realized that I haven't seen him in many years.  But...last summer, I discovered something growing right next to my columbine.

I call it my "mystery clematis".  I've got a different clematis climbing on my sign post for years now.  It's pretty small, and no matter how much I feed it, it doesn't seem to take off.

Well, the mystery clematis was running across the ground, and I just happend to see beautiful blue flowers, that I know I never planted.  I staked it up, and this thing is huge!!!  It has obviously been growing there for several years, and I never noticed it.  It dwarfs the one that I planted next to my sign.

So...I wonder....did my little friend plant this for me just before he disappeared, or is this some sort of miracle?

Either way, I cherish this beautiful addition to my landscape.

The clematis

the columbine

 

 

 

Edit....I started saving/sharing seeds.  Below, is a  flower I got from some of the seeds from the columbine above.  I've yet to duplicate the plant, from the above seeds.  

Gotta love those hybrids! 

 

I do get these plants exclusively, when I save these seeds.