A week or so ago, my neighbor Denys, who is bilingual, was kind enough to ask a neighbor (Pierre, who only speaks French) if I could collect a few plants growing on his forested land on a rocky ridge. Pierre said yes, but suggested the soil is very shallow and rocky and that it's hard to dig. With some effort, I collected a few cuttings (lateral shoots) from two large patches of Canada mayflower and bunchberry and transplanted them into my incipient wildflower garden. We'd like to plant mainly native plants of this region in our garden but their availability in the local nursery trade seems to be quite limited. So, we were happy to get cuttings of natives from a neighbor.
Wanting to give Pierre something in return, I dug up a half-dozen or so ornamental day lilies growing in our yard, put them in a wheel barrel, and brought them over to Pierre's house. Using his cell phone, I showed him a photo of a day lily in bloom. He immediately recognized the plant, smiled, and happily took the plants. All in all it was a lovely interaction between two neighbors unable to communicate by a common language.
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