The gardener who shares a cutting shares the possibility of an ordinary pleasure.

A cutting costs almost nothing and hands over something that keeps going. What travels is not really the plant but a small daily pleasure: something to check on in the morning, something that will be there in five years, a green thing on a windowsill that had none. Plants passed between people also carry a memory of who gave them, which is why so many gardens are half made of other people.

Take a cutting for someone this season and label it with the name and how to keep it. Ask for one from a plant you have admired, since gardeners are usually pleased to be asked.