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along one side of our house; on the other side we had purple and orange
bougainvillea. Later we found that lantana would grow.

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appeared to be a large green cigar. He had just returned from a Local
Vacation in Ceylon. He knew that I loved gardening and he said, “Dick,
I brought you a present from Ceylon.” I assumed what he was showing
me was a big green cigar. I said, “I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but
I’m a Mormon and I don’t smoke.” He laughed and said, “No, this is a
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individually and are used for leis in Hawaii.” He went on to suggest to
me that the cutting that he held, which had no roots, would grow in my
garden. He said I should go to the hobby farm and buy a bucket full of
chicken manure. The manure should then be mixed in the hole in the
sand and the cutting should be planted with only an inch or two above
the surface. I did as he suggested, but with considerable doubt. In fact,
the cutting rooted and grew about 18 inches high. It lost all its leaves in
November, but leafed out again next spring. It produced a bloom stock
which had at least a few blossoms on it from May until the following
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eral branches that grew a foot or two that year. The following spring,
there was a bloom stock from the head of each major branch and we
were delighted.

My friend had brought two additional cuttings, one of which he
planted in his own garden, and the other he gave to Jim Ehl, my neigh-
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trees had the unique ability to survive the Arabian weather. When we
left Arabia I sold my tree to another neighbor. I was not sure it would
survive transplanting, so I made payment conditional upon the tree
growing. In fact, the tree did grow, and the next year I received a check
in payment, which I used to buy the rhododendrons planted outside our
living room window in Lafayette. In visits to Arabia 20 years later, I was
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