You know you're a gardener when.... (revisited)

That's a fun visual! ;)
"But sir! I'm a GARDENER!!!!"

I wonder what they will think about the rocks I'm bringing to Denver in May?

are you flying? aren't they charging fees for excess/heavy baggage? something to think about. Regardless, you are a gardener fer sure, lol.

Yupper flying this time and they better not vossner because rocks have diplomatic immunity. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

LOL !

Wouldn't taking rocks to Denver be like selling ice cubes to Eskimo's ?

Oh no, all rocks are special!

When I moved recently I had to leave most of my enormous rock collection behind...sniff...years of beach combing, hikes, and weighed down pockets. :)
I did bring my rocks from a trip to Denver to see my sister though! If you carry them on I don't think you have to worry about the weight. Just how big are these rocks? LOL

that's a good one... did we get it?

You know you are a gardener when you slam on the brakes to stop and pick up a
nice rock along the side of the road

JD I am taking Canadian Rockies Rocks and returning with CO and NM Rockies rocks. I have AK rocks icanfindroom. Very luvly rocks you have BTW.

Why thank you! LOL!

Rocks, on our drive up to AK from WA every time we stopped for a break I combed the sides of the roads. So yes, I totally understand the brakes!

Don't many rocks have metals in them? Whent he alarm goes off the security guys will have a field day with our rock lady.

I'm going to the airport reallllly early LOL. I am going to declare my rocks (which will be boiled) but I think they might be much more persnickity about the seeds I'm bringing with me because they're harvested from my own garden. I'm going with USDA contacts and fact sheets for the seeds. In a nutshell, I'm going with the bamboozle them with my 'conscientious Canadian' approach.

I love rocks, too. A number of years ago we vacationed in NH and I was acquired a piece of green granite. When we move, it will go with us!

We collect rocks from vacations as well. It's fun to be in the garden and be able to identify where we found them.

{{{Raising hand}}} Another vacation rock collector! I have most of my garden beds lined with all sorts of fun colored ones from all over.

You know you're a gardener when your computer has more pictures of you favorite flowers, rocks, veggies, and gardens than all of your wedding and family photos put together! (I checked, it's true, and I don't have the excuse of being married 20 years ago when there were no digital cameras!)

Umm, yeah, that's me! Plant Files attest to the number of plant pics. I was going to say shhhh, don't tell the kids and grand kids but they already know.

When:
You go to the gym to "work out" but the real motive is to palm one of their perfectly sized landscaping rocks for a plant marker.

Your brother calls to tell you he has extra sheep s*** and cartwheels ensue.

You're in a bad mood for a week because you missed a great co-op.

You have to use your teeth to get a cutting of a shrub because you forgot to throw some snips in your pocketbook.

Your perfect threadbare gardening shirt is an eyesore to all nongardening people.

You're on a gardening forum in December, January and February for hours at a time.

Your neighbor stops to say thank you, it's so pretty.

I just have to say, it's so nice to find there are other 'normal' people like me!

Ok guilty of the garden forum. I'm disappointed when nothing new is on the plant ID thread. Plus all of the gardening pictures help...therapy.

I've used all sorts of things to get a start but as of yet, not my teeth! LOL Be careful what you bite into!

I also have a shirt I got from a gardening club that says "Plays in the dirt" That's one of my favorites. :)

You know you're a gardener when you go through the trash heap at the cemetary and find a veritable fortune in potted plants destined for the dumpster.

You're absolutely right JD, and another place to remember the snips when visiting.

If you were REALLY hard core, you'd have a set of assorted clippers in the trunk of your car...for emergencies, of course !

I'm not kidding about the cemetary thing...they just go through one day a week and harvest everything. It then gets dumped in huge piles in the back areas where the staff keeps equipment. If you ask, they'll let you take stuff.

I went out with a fellow gardener to dinner once, and on the way back home she stopped the car on an access road to the freeway, got a shovel out of the trunk of her car, and started digging up some roadside Cannas. I was stunned, especially when she told me she needed my help. I told her I wasn't going to dig up plants that don't belong to me, and she said that wasn't the kind of help she needed. She just wanted me to pretend I was throwing up if any cars drove by, especially police cars. That would be her excuse for parking there.

LOL, man, some people have nerve!

I know. I ended the friendship as soon as I could. I expected her to come dig up my plants next.

She did have a lovely garden.

and free!

I've taken cuttings of coleus at the shops along our main road "just for the health of the plant" but I wouldn't consider digging a plant along the road.

In my book, cutting is propagating, digging is theft...unless you have permission to bring the shovel

Agreed! Someone dug some expensive daylilies from the front yard of a daylily lover in Florida. She quickly moved her other expensive ones to the more protected back gardens.

But how about places like cemeteries that have the old irises, that there are so many of them that they are crowding each other out, and dying? And no one will ever divide them. Is it OK to take a piece, or to divide them so they will do better? Or a plant that is growing along the roadside on state land, in the middle of nowhere? I have seen lots of the old irises in cemeteries I would like a chunk of, but don't as I'm not sure what's right.

They'll just crowd themselves out if nobody takes a piece of history home. It's not that you're removing all of them. I realize everyone could say that but how many people even go to the cemetery where you saw the irises? Some cemeteries have very few visitors.

Some great roses, once thought to be lost forever, have been found in cemeteries and propagated for all to enjoy once again.

Cemetaries around here have rules about plantings (cant do it)and glass vases,(none)
You can bet its to make the mower guy happy.

The main cemetery I'm referring to has a lot of traffic in the newer parts, it's the older parts where the irises are that no one goes to.

I wouldn't hesitate about taking a cutting for a rose, but actually digging up an iris rhizome......I don't know. And is it proper to dig near a grave site? I'm not going to dig anything actually growing on top of a grave site, but these have really spilled over into the surrounding grassy areas.

I once made the mistake of stepping on a grave while trying to weed it, while on vacation in Ireland. It is a very bad idea, Polly!

I can't see any problem with taking an iris from the nearby grass.

Bad idea? That sounds intriguing. Did you get slapped for it or did you fall in?

At the west end of Austin NV there is a cemetery on each side of the road and in mid-summer both are filled with gorgeous yellow roses. They must have been planted a long time ago because they are climbing on top of the stones and the little fences around the graves. I've never stopped to see what kinds of other cool old plants are growing in there but I look forward to seeing the roses every summer.

Fell in, Zuzu. I just felt so bad for the three year old girl buried there a century ago. Her name was Fannie and my dog at the time was Fannie Mae so I felt the calling to clean up the grave and I did.

Katlian - I think there was a thread about roses in cemeteries in the Rose forum a few years ago.

Is it possible to ask someone who works at the cemetery? That way you can have a clear conscience either way. If they say yes you can feel good about it when they are in your garden.

I already did ask them, and they said sure, they would just as soon throw them out anyway. But it's still not the person who planted them. And actually the cemetery is co-operatively owned by the residents relatives, so the people working there really have no say. And it's a huge cemetery, not like our little family plot that only has a few people that own it, and care for it. It's not a cemetery owned by a big business.