Our neighbors down the street have her father visiting on visa from China again. He passes his time landscaping their backyard while they're working at UT. He loves plants and always stops by to pick up a few cuttings or starts from our yard.
Earlier this week, he noticed the back gate open and wandered in to see what we were up to. I showed him some cuttings I had rooted and was trying to find space for them before the cold weather rolls in. I speak no Chinese and he speaks a little English, but we both speak “plants.”
Most frustrating for me is trying to describe certain fruiting plants and their usage. I had some rooted fig cuttings that I offered him, but he was hesitant because he didn't recognize my attempts to describe the fruit. I showed him the fig photos on my iPad, but he was still mystified. I asked DH to look up the Chinese name for ficus carica while I flapped my arms and did my best to convey that birds , as well as humans, eat them.
Thank goodness for the Internet! The google search showed the Chinese characters for fig. Our visitor's face lit up and he was very excited to know what I was offering him. Worked so well, we looked up the loquat tree's translation. Again he recognized the loquat as familiar. He looked at DH and told him the loquat was medicinal in northern China. It is used to treat lung ailments, and that DH (who smokes) should eat plenty of them! And so he was very happy to go home with my little loquat tree and rooted fig that I grew from a cutting.
It always makes me smile when I meet someone who likes plants. We usually become instant friends.
