The first Valentine's Day that Johnie and I were married, a huge bouquet of flowers was delivered to my door. They were gorgeous and after I learned how expensive they were, I can assure you they were a little too beautiful. It was the biggest and most beautiful bouquet I've ever received though, so I did enjoy them. There were a variety of flowers arranged in the vase and were so fragrant you could smell them from every room in our tiny little apartment. I sat them on a corner table in our dining room, and took several pictures of them.
I left them sitting out far longer than I should have. They did maintain their integrity for more than a week before starting to decay and wilt, but I couldn't bring myself to throw them away until March. Even then, I snipped some of the flowers and pressed them in books to save them. There had been three little curly twigs arranged among the flowers. Amid all the blooms, I thought they were probably just man-made decorative sticks. They looked and smelled as though they had been sprayed with something. As I was cleaning out the vase to pitch the dead arrangement, I noticed these little twigs were growing roots. Upon inspecting them closer, I noticed there were little buds along each twig. I kept them alone in the vase with fresh water and made a trip to the florist that had delivered the bouquet.
The florist informed me the twigs were cut from curly willow trees. She said if they were growing roots, then they could be planted just like any tree. Upon hearing this, I bought a pot and some soil, and planted the three little twigs. I named them Larry, Curly, and Moe and sat them out on our deck. I was amazed that they continued to grow, and the little buds bloomed out to produce leaves.
When we moved to our house, one of my first orders of business was planting these little trees in our front yard. I never imagined them to grow very large, so we planted them close together in the middle of our front yard. They grew like crazy. By the following summer, they were several feet tall and had become bushy. After a few more months we discovered they were taller than me, although Johnie pointed out they were still not as tall as him. The three little twigs melded together and swelled to the size of small trunks. We couldn't even close our hands around the base of what had become one curly willow. They passed Johnie in height, and then the roof of our porch and continued to grow.
One day a man came to our house and struck up a conversation with Johnie about the tree. He asked to cut some twigs for himself to start some of his own curly willows. According to him, we had a golden curly willow variety that was uncommon in that part of Kansas. He said he was going to cultivate them and then sell them. We aren't sure what that man ever did with the twigs he clipped that day.
I'm not sure if future owners of our house will continue to let the little tree grow, or if they will cut it down. I will admit Johnie and I would have probably planted it in a better location had we known how big it would grow. I am also thankful that we knew how to cultivate more and more little trees by cutting the branches and soaking them in water. I brought several branches with me on our move to Kentucky and look forward to planting them whereever we go throughout our life.
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