The Hallmark of a Gardener

Dirt, chronically under your fingernails? Lower back, a bit sore? Tan line, starting at the midpoint of your upper arms? Knees, always visible through the holes in your jeans? Things seem pretty straightforward: You’re a gardener. It’s okay. Plenty of people live their whole lives like this… and they live happily.

Gardeners don’t mind doing their banking with mud boots on. If the boots are really dirty, gardeners just visit the drive-up teller window. Gardeners don’t mind showing up at the grocery store with scrubbed hands but nails that could use some work. Cash in hand, no one will notice. And gardeners would do anything to share their love of gardening and their wealth of plants with others.

With generosity being one characteristic of all of us who are gardeners, sharing becomes unavoidable. We want to share, and in fact, we are willing to share even our most prized plants. Unfortunately, not all plants are meant for dividing and relocating, at least not without their putting up a fight. Some cannot be teased apart or sliced into divisions well; some cannot handle the stress of acclimating to a new environment. But one genus of plants that gardeners share with ease is Sedum, better known to me as Stonecrop. With many species of Stonecrop to choose from, this can mean different things to different people. But a fluffy, feathery option such as Sedum rupestre is easy to work with and almost meant for dividing and sending out in different directions to friends and family.

Like Sedum rupestre, other small-stemmed and delicate-looking varieties of Stonecrop separate most readily. Easily pulled apart, the plant pieces send out roots with incredible ease. Although rooting compounds and lots of care are required by some plants as they are divided and coaxed into going from being one plant to becoming multiples, Stonecrop needs little care in order to achieve the same. If a stem or other division appears with nothing in the way of roots already in place, putting that plant piece into some loose soil or a container of water will enable new “baby roots” to generate in no time flat.

The Stonecrop known as Sedum spurium has small spoon-shaped foliage in a variety of colors—very often, colors that change as the seasons and temperatures change. Sedum spurium grows easily amid rocks in my garden, peeking out from crevices in one particular rock wall—a literal “stone crop”—and beckons me to tug out a piece from time to time. The pieces I pull sometimes appear with roots intact; other times, I have tugged too quickly or harshly, and only a succulent stem or two will end up in my hand. But even in this latter case, this Stonecrop, appearing at first with no visible way to draw in nutrients, can be tucked into a new location and will invariably take hold, root itself, and do just fine. 

I have seen the rooting of Stonecrop take place in what seems like just a matter of days. If I were to use rooting compound to help the process along, I think I would have no better luck. Nature takes care of Stonecrop, and at the same time takes care of the gardener who desires to share some garden wealth. One division, or even a carelessly tugged stem or stems, can transform into a new plant for sharing. 

Less-than-immaculate fingernails, partial tans, “hole-y” jeans… many gardeners are recognized for these characteristics. But they don’t seem to mind, as long as they can continue gardening and can share such plants as Stonecrop. Again, some people live all their lives like this…. And I must say, I hope that is the case for me.