The quest for the pink slipper

There are times when I would love to return to a certain point in my childhood and relive it (with the ability to return to the present, of course).

I was thinking today about how I have the inherent ability to kill all plants even with research and much effort to give them everything they need.  The only plant that I've been unable to kill is a tall palm that my mother gave me.  I think this is due to the fact that it can regenerate itself no matter what the damage.  In fact, you can cut it off and the stump will regrow.  If you take the top that you cut off and stick it in soil, that will grow a new tree too.  Like I said, impossible to kill.

My grandmother has an amazing green thumb.  She can grow anything from seed, bulb, clipping, or seemingly nothing.  And she was able to do this in Newfoundland, which has a growing season of about 2 months..  the rest of the year consists of imminent snow, snow, and melting snow. 
I have envied her for as long as I can remember.  When I was awaiting the birth of my sister, my family stayed with my grandparents.  It was a long, cold winter in my mind and I remember watching Nan water and care for her many plants.  I wanted to grow one of my own from scratch, not realizing the time frame involved.  The two of us then planted an apple seed that I eagerly checked on everyday.  I was disappointed day after day until finally I noticed a tiny twig in the center of the pot.  This twig was about one centimeter tall.  I remember being so excited.  Looking back, I believe that the twig was put there on purpose.  What better way to appease an impatient 4 year old, eh?

When I was 11, my family lived in the same "town" as my grandparents.  I use the word "town" generously as there was only a handful of houses, about 30-40 residents, a post office, and a corner store that was always closed when the soap operas were on.  Because of the lack of entertainment and/or friends, I soon learned how to be independently entertained.  I climbed trees, went for long walks in the woods tracking foxes and rabbits, monitored the local frog pond's pollywog progression into mini-toads, dug up a LOT of fool's gold, hand fed Grey Jays, and much more.
One day my grandmother mentioned wanting a certain flower for her garden.  It was a Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid.  She told me a funny anecdote about the time she stuck her finger inside one once and there was a bee inside.  I was fascinated.  And I was determined to get it for her.

You're MINE!

Little did I know that they don't just grow all over the place all willy-nilly.  I searched HIGH & LOW for that ridiculous flower.  I didn't have the internet at my fingertips at the time, nor a public library, so I had no idea where they grow, what time of the year, or anything at all!  After a while I decided that these flowers did not exist in our area, so I switched to transplanting wild multicoloured foxgloves to her garden (yes, they are weeds.  I know this now.  I did not know this at 11)  One day I was traipsing about in the woods quite far from home when I saw a dense wall of foxgloves.  I climbed the hill and fought my way into the middle of the bunch in order to see a pretty white one that I had not gotten for my grandmother yet.  I was staring up at it and thinking of how to get it back so far when I looked down to see how hard it would be to transplant.  Low and behold, there it was in all it's glory.  A Pink Lady's Slipper.  I ran home as fast as I could to grab a pail and spade.  I then dug it up and planted it in the middle of Nan's garden.  I can only imagine that she was a little sad to see this pretty little orchid in it's poor condition after it ran into me.  I'm also pretty sure that it promptly died as a result of my haphazard hacking of it's root system.  Come to think of it, I think all the foxgloves died too..  and they're WEEDS.