Got to the cemetery to visit Mom the day after Christmas this year because of that big snow we had. Somebody had been in the area the night before because in the garbage can with no lid next to the road, there were 3 naked, pot-less poinsettias; one white, two red. Their withering leaves embraced two nip size bottles of SeagramÂs 7, both empty. It looked like somebody had had a bit of Christmas cheer with a beloved spirit. Naturally, I felt sorry for the tropical plants exposed to such cold, so I went dumpster diving for discarded foil to wrap their roots in and brought them home.

My winter window space is all taken up by geraniums and wheatgrass for the cat, so a neighbor took the hardiest red and the white poinsettia which now happily live facing south in a large window in large pots with new soil. After snipping off the frostbitten parts of my now tiny tropical refugee, I scrounged around outside and brought in two pots. One had leftover soil and was frozen so it went down to the laundry room sink to thaw. Yesterday, I went down to the laundry room and to my surprise, I was rewarded for having saved those poinsettias.

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Okay, so itÂs only a dandelion, but itÂll grow and IÂll throw the leaves in a salad. Question is, do any of my fellow gardeners come home from the cemetery with rescues? Never ceases to amaze me what people buy to decorate graves then the flowers/plants/even shrubs sometimes, are tossed. For years, every June, I have come home with cemetery garbage pail geraniums. The big one in back of the poinsettia is one from 4 years ago. Anyone else? I canÂt be the only bleeding heart dumpster diver here, can I?

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Jane