People are so appreciative of our offerings. They know the trees and plants we share will grow in our climate. We’ve found many people want to pay for the plants. We suggest they donate to the Embracing the World charity and include the website for donations in the email we send.

From one Hardy Hibiscus Rose of Sharon Tree (bush) planted in 2002, we now have more than can be counted! We have enough two-foot seedlings each year to share 150 with a local church youth camp, another 75 with a church for gifts for Mother’s Day, and more than 60 to share with friends.

We especially love adopting Hibiscus Tree seedlings out to caring, adoptive homes. Our first hibiscus tree was dug from our parents’ home. My father was born in 1916 and is long gone, yet his prized hibiscus trees live on and continue to feed bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. They delight people with their beauty and hardiness.

Some of the other jewels from my father’s garden that flourish on the farm and give us many extras to share every year are his Yellow Cannas, 4 O’clocks and Irises. Many of these are old, prized heirloom varieties that are not easily found these days. People may also take cuttings of our heirloom rose bushes and Forsythia to root at their homes.

We originally adopted some plants from friends’ gardens; and now we have extra that can share (pay it forward). Nature loves to share her gifts and bounty and we do, too.

Last year, we added a new adoption option. There is a saying that we spend the first half of our lives accumulating ‘stuff’ and the second half of our lives getting rid of it. We are in our 70’s and spent much of last spring letting go of books, clothing and items we knew we’d no longer use. We included this in our adoptions. Our unneeded ‘stuff’ was adopted by someone else. One person’s junk is another person’s jewel.