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

Well, if you're just taking a small part & it will carry on an old iris variety, I don't think the families would mind. After all, gardeners share right? I would. Still, unless you feel good about it you won't enjoy them. Can you find the variety online?

Thanks pirl, I probably didn't see that thread because I enjoy roses much more when they are in someone else's yard!
:)

Same here, Katlian. I love them and grow them but they seldom do well for me either.

I don't think I'll feel bad. I just wanted to see what everyone thought. If you folks all thought it was stealing I would reconsider.

And I couldn't find them on line as I don't know the cultivar name, and the older ones are just too hard to identify properly.

I think I'll just go get some, being very careful not to step on the grave (or fall into it)., and leave it looking nice where I took them from.

It's amazing that if we grew them as crowded as we've seen them growing wild they'd perish on us.

I think it's because they are the older varieties. The newer ones are harder to grow.

I agree. Many old homestead plants do well, they are survivors. Since you already have the o.k. from cemetery workers I would't worry. It would be stealing if you didn't ask or if they had said no. But I think you are "in the clear." :)

Good luck.
I cant imagine the cemetary staff know enough about plants to object.
When I went to check on the plot for my parents ,there was someone else in it.
So record keeping isnt up to snuff either.
This was a suburban cemetary in a small town that has had housing development since 1800. The cemetary was probably way outside of town a couple of hunderd years ago.

Here's my true plant stealing story:

I went to the Audobon Shop at a town located about 50 miles from where I lived. I went specifically to buy a pot of true red shrimp plant, which I knew the store carried. The proprietor lady told me she had just sold the last pot, but that I would be very welcome to drive over to her house and dig some out of her yard.

She gave me specific directions and told me that there would be a shovel leaning against the deck. Well, I wanted the plants badly enough to go to her house and dig.

I found the house and saw the plants. Funny, I didn't see a shovel or a deck. Well, what the heck. I always carry a shovel and plastic bags in my trunck, so I got my shovel and plastic bags out and dug up a couple of red shrimp plants.

As I was putting my tools and my loot back in the trunk, her next door neighbor arrived home and unloaded her groceries. She did not seem to have a problem with my digging in her neighbor's yard.

I backed out of the driveway to leave, and as I was turning into the street, I happened to notice a house just across the street that had a beautiful yard with red shrimp plants in various places around it. It also had a deck with a shovel. And , oh yes! The street number that I had been given was hanging on a placard beside the driveway entrance.

I prayed that the police would not catch me as I hurried out of that town!

When I got home, I started not to tell my husband the story, but my conscience made me tell. He laughed until he nearly cried.

He still might have to bail me out one day, because I still carry my shovel and plastic bags. (My little incident happened about 20 years ago.)

Kay

You definitley got off lucky with that one ! LOL

LOL
Why are gardeners so quick to feel guilty?

I can't imagine how you felt when you saw the house with the shovel by the deck!!!

The place you took them from is probably still scratching their heads.

Had it been me, and there were a lot of the plant, i would have just been happy for new space to put something in. Had it been a prized, one only plant, I probably would have been mad, but not under the circumstances you describe.

I wouldn't doubt the home owner from where you took the plants mentioned it to the one you were supposed to take the plants from. I can just hear the conversation. 'Someone came today and dug up some of my shrimp plants. I wonder why they didn't go over to your house as you have so many more around' I wouldn't doubt the homeowner found out why the plants were dug.

But anyway it's a hilarious story. If I ever have anything missing from my garden I will think of this.

very cute story, Kay

You know your a gardner when you start your day with this
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

It's a great song, but I don't see the connection to gardening.

Its just a nice thing to start your day.

I agree, but for non-gardeners too.

You know you're a gardener when a complete stranger drops off a truckload of horse manure because, " looks like you could use this!"
You offer to carry off all the chunks of broken concrete from an old demolished sidewalk, load them up in your van and make 4 trips to boot....... to use them for a garden wall..

wow... I want to live in Rutledge, TN if that's what happens for gardeners there. :-)
Tam

Hey, I wish it would happen again, I've used it all up!

you know your a gardener when you go grocery shopping and have to decide between food and the plant display out front . or you know you are a gardener when you go shopping and spend 30 bucks before you walk through the door.

you know you are a gardener when your house is arranged in accordance with the windows and time of day each window gets enough light .so you can keep all your tropicals and non zone friendly plants alive. and seedlings.

you know you are a gardener when you pack the kids up to go to the park because you dont want them in the yard trampling things. lol . its nerve-wracking . like a bull in a china closet.
you know you are a gardener when you offer to do all the errands because you can secretly hit the nursery up on the way .
you know you are a gardener when there is always bark chips and soil on the floor board of the car. and you dont bother to vacuum it because well it will be there again tomorrow

you know you are a gardener when you head to the plant section of every store no matter what you are there for and you usually get something from that section. you never go to a store that dosnt have a plant section.

lol iris...especially about the floor of the car. I don't vacuum the car until July!

I don't vacuum the house until November.

When you fill your jazuzzi gardentub with geraniums because the window and the exposure in the bathroom was too great to pass up.

When your kids are out driving in a rainstorm and all you can think about is whether your seeds are going to wash away.

When you sneak out in the middle of the night to spray grasskiller on your husband's beloved lawn to make a little more room for your shrubs. (shhhhhush)

Good for you Zu !!!!!
;)

Oh Rosie, you're BAD!

I know.................................

I know.................................

But what really is bad is the look on his face when he tells me that his grass died AGAIN ---and he just can't figure out what the heck he is doing wrong. "It must be fungus.. it is going brown in PATCHES!
I tell him not to worry....I will find SOMETHING to go there ..............

To borrow Erma Bombeck's famous quote, with a few minor changes:

Cleaning the car
while plants are still growing
is like shoveling the walk
while it's still snowing.

Rose - we'll keep your secret safe.

iris28 those are good ones. my car always has gardening debris

I also volunteer to fill the gas cans so I can sneak over to the nursery. A one hr errand turns into a 3 hr errand, lol

Ok, I am so guilty of the following that people have mentioned:

for me it is knives, and strainers, and various cups and tupperware.

Oh, this is so shameful, but I am so guilty. I did this just the other day with a friend I ran into, but she did the same thing, lol...

OMGosh...I thought I was the only one!
I have a set of old white fruit of the loom men's v-neck shirts that are my gardening uniform. They double as my hand towel/apron. They were bought for this purpose, so they aren't meant to stay nice~~ I can guiltlessly just wipe my dirty hands all over them, and don't care if I get it dirty or stained. I've tried buying new ones, but they aren't soft and "threadbare", like my old ones, so keep wearing the old tattered ones.

Oh, my...the kitchen window is sinningias and african violets, the bathroom window with its privacy glass and shower steam perfect for orchids, etc....lol...

Guilty, again. Have any of you been guilty of hiding plant purchases this way, because they are hidden on the grocery or walmart bill?...or emptied the groceries out of the car, but not removed the plants from the trunk, until hubby is not around to ask "how much was all THAT?", lol...

lol, guilty about leaving plants in the trunk. I'm sad to say a couple of small plants died because I totally forgot about them.

But Mark is up to my shenanigans and he has taken to unloading all the crap out of my trunk and placing in the middle of the kitchen, as to say: "I know what you're up to, sneaky woman"

What a way to start my Monday morning!!! Thanks for the good laugh. I could relate to so many. I really had to laugh about the grasskiller on husband's lawn to make more room for plants. Too funny. Your secret is definately safe with us!

Happy Gardening!!!!

Guilty of hiding plants in the car, or sneaking them around the corner of the house (during warm weather, of course) until hubby is otherwise occupied. I know I'll get "the look" if I proudly walk in with a new orchid or cactus for the collection, so I just avoid it. By the time he notices, I can truthfully say that I've had it for some time! It helps to shuffle the plants around occasionally so he doesn't get used to seeing things in the same spot. Then when I have adopted something new, it isn't as obvious.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 2:08 PM

ditto all of what you just said lol...

Great new additions!

goodness, I forgot one of the most telling signs: you know you're a gardener when your cell phone has 10 nurseries programmed on speed dial

And the guy who delivers poop who I call the poopguy ^_^

I think we need a thread called, "Confessions From Gardening Addicts"!