The topic for the evening: the etiquette of asking for/sharing plants.

I have quite a few neighbors who walk every evening, and a couple of weeks ago a woman asked for some iris starts. I had a box of them that I'd never got around to planting and gave her some. This evening she and her husband were out walking with their son and he asked about some cactus starts. I have a couple I need to do a lot of work on, the grass is completely into them and I knock stuff off every time I mow. So I got the tongs and picked up one and broke a limb off another (I'm going to have to dig it up--no doubt it would break anyway. I realized as he talked he was gesturing at some that I dropped in pots last year, and he really would have preferred to have the rooted ones.

I realize now that for this Mexican family, the cactus are a lot more highly prized, and she had seen those pots when we got the iris. I'm guessing that he was hoping I'd give him a pot (I do sell them occasionally at garage sales, but I don't usually give them away because I have to replace the pot).

Anyway, I'm going to plant the potted ones when I do this new arrangement, but if I'd been thinking I probably could have just given him one. Most people don't make so much use of things growing in their yards, but cactus are highly prized around here and some neighbors up the street have parties when family come and cut pads off of a huge prickly pear in their yard. Now I feel like I was being a little stingy when I have tons of the stuff out there.

When I see her out walking again, I'm tempted to ask if she wants one of those, just because I feel like I wasn't paying attention and they're going to have to root those pads before they get much growth. When there is surplus, how do some of you handle it? And have you had any poaching in your gardens? i.e., I don't care if people break off a few twigs of rosemary on the plant down at the street, but I hope they aren't digging up other stuff.

SRS