It's beautiful!

May the spirit of America make this plant flourish!

Long may it thrive.

One of my cousin's is a Master Gardener in California. Had never heard the term until ? 30+ yrs ago when she got the nomenclature.

in Michigan. The program is run through Michigan State. I received my Master Gardener and then decided to go on a bit further. I'm also a certified Environmental Steward. The extension office in my county sets these classes up. They really are fun and you meet like-minded people. You also have to take continuing ed classes and do a certain number of volunteer hours in your community.

Maybe put it in your will.

Regular updates and photos will, of course, be expected, or at least hoped for!

I’ll post on DU in case anybody in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area wants one.

..... failing plants and bring them back to life.

We would love to have a cutting from the Ivy and would gladly pass it on to other patriots once we have an established plant. In fact, just a thought, maybe you and others should start a "plant foundation" based on this Ivy. We would be happy to contribute to those who want to maintain the White House as the "people's house," loaned to future presidents for the terms they are legally in office.

and I'll be happy to spread its progeny in anticipation of the parent plant being restored to its rightful place on the Oval Office mantel - and the tacky gold trinkets are gone, along with the loser who put them there.

our endangered democracy. I have said it before and I'll say it again. Four generation of this family have proudly worn a military uniform when our country called.

It looks beautifully healthy. I like the idea of sane people propagating the plant so that parts of it will go on living.

I would be so afraid of killing it. I love plants outdoors but for some reason am not very good with houseplants. Also, in Michigan winters the poor things get very little sun.

Yep- poison ivy.

I was thinking something rather more hopeful,however.

the Swedish goddess of spring/regeneration? Or so I saw when looking for a Swedish counterpart to Flora, Roman Goddess of flowers/spring.

but Nils or Astrid are a bit conventional. I might go with the Old Norse version, Iðunn. Interestingly, there's a high-end women's clothing boutique in St. Paul called Idun. (I've never been there; I'm not the high-end clothing type).

the ARC and Goodwill type, or sewing my own, including remaking things.

and see if they throw me out. I once did get sort of thrown out of a high-end shop once, many years ago. I was a broke college student browsing in the most elegant part of a nice downtown department store, which was called the Oval Room, and which we always called the Evil Room because the salesladies were so snotty. I was obviously poor and raggedy, and a very snotty saleslady glided up to me with her nose in the air, and suggested in a way that was not a suggestion that perhaps I would be more comfortable shopping elsewhere. Of course I couldn't have afforded a single Hermés scarf, let along a whole dress, but it was kind of fun to make them get rid of me before I dragged the atmosphere down.

shirts. Many, MANY years ago, I was shopping with a friend in one of the suburban Dayton Hudson stores (not the flagship). We were at the cosmetics counter, because I was on my endlessly futile quest for a product for my VERY soft nails. My friend and I, both 21, were dressed nicely, but not expensively. The very snobby saleswoman behind the counter rather pointedly ignored us for older, more expensively dessed women who came up after we did. After she pointedly ignored us for about the third time, I told my friend we were leaving. I found the manager's office, and proceeded to explain that I had been intending to buy an entire skin care line, and was treated as if I were something that did not belong there. Just to be a bitch, I drew out the money I had gotten from a rather large (at the time) check I had cashed earlier in the day and tossed it on his desk to show a blown sale. Somewhere in the conversation, he somehow got the impression that I was a spotter for the home office. Shrug.

Whenever I think of that, or reading your adventure just now, I think of that scene un "Pretty Woman". "BIG mistake. HUGE!!!"

as it did!

(it's a USDA Zone 10-11 plant), but it was first introduced there as a house plant, which is how it got its name. Nevertheless, I'm naming her Iðunn.

in the Oval!