Money Plant | Lunaria Annua

I remember flying to St. Louis as a young person and visiting my grandparents in Tower Grove West.  My grandpa would typically spend his day watching his beloved Cardinals while grandma was in the kitchen creating another tempting dessert. 
​ 
One day we all decided to take their dog, Patty, for a walk around the neighborhood.  We visited with neighbors and stopped by their church to check on the quilting bee.  As we walked, I was regaled with stories from their past.  

As we got home, we went into the backyard where grandma had her prized roses and money plants.  I became enamored with the money plants with their round white coin-like pods.  Grandma cut off one of the pod stalks so I could take it home as a souvenir of my trip.

Lunaria, Silver Dollar
The Pilgrims brought them to the colonies on the Mayflower. Thomas Jefferson grew them in the famous gardens of Monticello and mentioned them in his letters. Today, if you look up money plant care, instructions are scarce. Perhaps this is because many gardeners consider caring for a money plant the same as caring for a weed.

Money Plant Growing Info
Also known as Honesty, of the genus Lunaria, silver dollar plants are named for their fruit, with pods dry to flat silverish discs about the size of — you guessed it — silver dollars. They hail from Europe and were one of the first flowers grown in the dooryard gardens of the New World for their pods and edible roots. They are members of the family Brassicaceae or mustard family, which is evident in their foliage: fast-growing, single stems that can reach about 2 feet (61 cm.) high with broad oval leaves that are coarsely toothed.