Discovering Pass-along Plants

While we were filming the Ghost Trail the other day at Old Cahawba, I found the most interesting book in the Gift Shop. I owned it years ago and somehow lost it. It was like finding an old friend. It is Passalong Plants by Steve Bender and Felder Rushing. Steve Bender works for Southern Living as the garden editor. Felder Rushing is a retired professor and botanist in Mississippi. I have listened to Felder and his partner Dr. Dirt many times as a I have traveled rural Southwest Alabama.

The book is about plants have been grown in southern gardens for generations, but are hard to find in commercial nurseries. There are many old favorites and a few old enemies that want to take the property once they get a toe hold. The less desirable plants are called Aunt Bea’s pickles for the Andy Griffith show where Aunt Bea makes pickles for the county fair that are so bad nobody wants to eat them, but nobody has the heart to tell her. A beginning gardener will take anything. They are gullible and learn the hard way. I loved how they characterized these plants. All the articles are clever and make for great summer front porch reading. You can read one or two in just a few minutes. Some folks would say this would make a good bathroom book, too, for the same reason.

I highly recommend you get this as a reference book. I also recommend you visit Cahawba. Linda Derry, their director tells me that one of their major focuses is going to be native plants of the Alabama prairie. If you do go, be sure to visit their Gift Shop for the book and other great finds. When you go, plan to spend some time. They have great ghost stories there, too.