Does anyone else sometimes wonder if they love their plants too much?

I've always been creative but due to many failures in that arena ( to gain recognition and to eek out a few dollars a month ) I have very little motivation left in me.

Until spring 💗 where as I tend to my plants I don't have to "think of all the things" and I do it for no one other than myself and my family. I even live at a dead end. I certainly know I'm not going to make any $ off of it. The ones I can afford are little and bare rooted, nothing special to look at, not much more than a twig, but the sense of accomplishment I feel is wonderful nevertheless.

I was writing an email to check on an order and I just had to write down how happy and excited I was to get my little nine bark & junipers. Like a kid on Christmas!

When my other forms of creativity fail me, having my garden fills me with warmth and anticipation. Even when I screw up! Like my leggy seedlings. They might not make it, but I love them all the same.

I do sometimes find myself thinking, that if I'm going to have all these awesome flowers ( with any luck ) I should be taking macros or shooting time lapses. That's not the easiest to put together on a 9 year old computer.

Nasturtiums don't need computers. Morning glories don't need the latest graphics card. Nine barks don't need sugar coated social media accounts and inspirational blurbs. They are the inspiration.They just need somewhere to grow. Like we all do in a way. Plants and gardening are not simple things. I'm sure there's so much more than I know.

When they grow though, they grow simply. It's a thing of wonder to me, seeing them grow and unfurl little by little. I get misty, maybe I do love my plants a little too much

I find myself being very dedicated to my plants! It's a ritual for me- get up, have coffee, tend to the plants, then get on with the day, but re-visit them later if there's something I need to do. It is very fun, because it makes me forget any stress that's going on in my world! During summer, walk the garden, check on things, tinker here and there..

Yes, pull out the camera and upload some photos!! Even if it takes a little extra time, we always love to oooohh and ahhhh over nice plants, and birds too! This morning at sunrise, a bluebird singing woke me up. Not a bad way to start the day.

EyeDelight- I hope you have a wonderful day!!

I enjoy my plants so much that the bi-annual ritual of bringing them in for winter and taking them out in the spring is not a burden, but an act of love. There is pleasure in seeing them grow larger each year, even if you can hardly tell that some have gotten any bigger at all.
It is quite joyful to start from seed or propagate by cuttings. And terribly sad to lose a treasured plant.
But adding a new plant to my collection helps me get over the loss. I don't need any excuse to buy another plant though, it just helps

I enjoy my plants so much that I propagate them and give them away so others can be as happy as I am.

I enjoy my plants so much that when I come home from work after being gone for 3 days, I quietly close my car door so no one will know I'm home. I make my rounds to see what's blooming, what needs watering, what I need to fill up that hole, smell the smells, check out the butterflies. Then I make a racket downstairs so the dogs and DH will know that Mama's home!

Yes the plants are like beloved pets! I have had this love affair since I was in my teens and now that my youngest child is a young adult the plants are filling the empty nest. I also propagate and give extras as gifts to friends who garden. Saturday I brought a bunch of extra tomatoes and peppers to dinner party as gift to host.
And I do grab a few minutes before work with my plants, have my coffee in the garden, walking among my pets/babies to admire and plan. So nice to know others do this!

You guys can propagate, I'm so jealous lol I've never made/split a plant from another plant, if find it kind of intimidating. I've only recently moved to somewhere that I have good sun and can actually dig into the earth. I've never even had a house plant before here but I've managed to bring back some of an ivy, a succulent and a pink veined plant that the name escapes me at the moment. Outside, I've only done container gardening before this, so naturally I'm going hog wild trying to fill all this space when it's not really practical but I like to try anyway!

Year before last on google plus, I wrote something I called " A Garden Story" all about my trials and eventual success trying to do vegetables in containers. How much of myself I put into it, how accomplished I felt. I had pictures and everything and no one "got it". It was like " Oh, that's nice" and I was a little heartbroken because I spent a lot of time writing that and trying to share my joy and experience with others and it kind of fell flat. I don't feel like that here, and I'm so thankful because you all understand what it's like to be a little nuts about growing things and I don't feel so weird or alone. I can share my joy and can take part in yours. I appreciate it more than you can know

Gardeners are enablers, helpers, fanatics, sharers, and a little bit crazy. Welcome to our world Rachael. We "get it."

Was having a deep discussion with church friends about our life journeys. Everyone was talking about the people who we've met on our life's journeys. Then someone with musical background chimed in "and music, too." Someone else said "good books," and I said "and plants." Everyone was quiet and looked at me politely but they had no idea what I meant...,

My people!!

I had this bush many years ago when I lived in NJ. I really wish I knew what it was I still have pictures of the flower. It was actually one of the things that inspired me to photography along with a water faucet and some moss, lol

Anyway, I had gotten it and it rained and rained and rained and by the time I could get around to it, it was drowned and dead. Well, plopped my little broken bush into the ground anyway and little by little it sprung back to life. Turning into a fine specimen of a bush with these beautiful flowers I loved. I ended up having to leave that life behind, along with my bush. It was one of the things I cried hardest over. I knew that later on that it was all demolished and ripped out.

Maybe I should dig up my old pictures and see if anyone can ID it. I would love to have my bush back, it was the first thing I ever planted that did well. *tears*

Anyone else have a long lost plant that they get sentimental over?

I'm really glad I dropped in here. For years I had two feesias in clay pots and then they were stolen, right out of the back yard. Along with everything else, of course. But its those freesias I miss because of the way I acquired them. On my way home from a terrible day at the office I noticed these plants in the corner of a nursery I drove past - turned around, bought them, potted them up and kept them going for such a long time. When i moved here I placed them where I would see them every time I went out on my front porch. And then they were gone. I do enjoy my plants, and visit them at least every morning to either make mental notes of what to do, or just do it then. Being retired makes it easy. I will admit, however, that I am thrilled to live in a zone that does not require plants to be overwintered indoors. My overwintering consists of finding enough sun for all of them and trying to grow anything at all in full shade during fall and winter. Why is my home north-facing? What was I thinking. And, yeah, I "get it".

Hello EyeDelight, I empathize with the loss of your shrub that is no more. Please do post a photo and let me know when you do, because I sometimes have a hard time trying to find things in this vast network of entries in forums and threads. Reminds me of a spiderweb.
Sometimes it takes days of trying to trace back to an entry I want to reread.
I do have a plant I mourn. I had planted an array of primulas alongside a path, and after a few years, they crossbred and delightful plants emerged.

One of these was a pinched petal version that I'd never seen before!
It grew slowly




and increased into a nice clump.
When we moved from our acre and a half garden to a city lot, I potted up 800 to 1,000 of my favourite plants, but before I could get them all planted, I lost one or two hundred, through an early freeze up, and the special primula is no longer alive.
There is my sad tale to add to yours. Thanks for letting me reminisce and share.

Not so much a long lost plant but I have tea olives and gardenias planted side by side in memory of my grandmothers. Wonderful fragrances from both. My mom loves irises and has shared many with me, ones that she has shared are blooming simultaneously in both our flower beds. That lets me know they came from her. My sister has given me gingko seedlings. All sentimental value, priceless.

CarolHB,

Someone actually stole your plants? The audacity! I know people steal but seriously, I would have been both sad and livid. I probably would have scoured everyone's yard in the 5 mile radius, swearing about my ( your) freesias.

I'm not retired but if there's one perk to being unemployed at the moment, it's my garden. It snowed here day before yesterday, so my garden is largely indoors or in seed form. Even going out and raking and pruning, getting g all the things ready is a joy unto itself.

Hemsworth, that is such a beautiful flower <3 Have you given any thought on how to maybe duplicate the situation? I know it's not the same as a special garden suprise but they are/were so lovely. I'm glad you have pictures. It's sometimes all we have in the end.

KAbby, That's so sweet and lovely. I went up to my mom's house to get some ditch lillies and even though they aren't of the same botanical caliber as Iris, I know they'll live forever and I'll always be reminded of my momma when I see them, so I understand the notion well. It's a beautiful one <3

I'm so terribly sentimental that all of your tales have gotten me all touched and misty, lol

I'm still looking for my bush but I have to hit finish on this before I hit the back button and lose it all!

Edit: found a better pic. Ugh now it won't let me download it. Hopefully this link works.




This is it. The only other thing I can recall is I think it had hollow woody stems.

I'm sure it's super tiny because it was taken digitally more than 10 years ago. And I tried to make it artsy. So it's not the most illuminating ID photo. It was mostly white and pink. Don't worry btw, I've improved considerably since then lol

once in a while something takes a trip to the compost pile and I do feel a tad bit guilty. ok, I admit, I have even pulled stuff out of the pile after feeling sorry for it.
After I moved I missed my garden fiercely and life just doesn't feel complete to me w/o it and its finally coming back together for me. YES!

What an inspiring thread! I can relate. I'm disabled now so no more playing in the dirt for hours like I used to years ago. Three years ago we moved from NJ to rural Ohio and now we have lots of room to grow so I live vicariously through my dil's planting efforts so it's still fun and it brings back lots of memories but it can't compare to actually being on your knees playing in the dirt with all the smells and the feel of the dirt going through your fingers getting under your fingernails. My son and dil are rebuilding the front porch that my bedroom overlooks in a few weeks from now and it will have flowerbeds in front of it and I will have a little section to fuss with and water while my dil does the hard part. It may sound silly but I am so excited about it! I'm researching to see what plants will do well in late afternoon sun that are easy to tend to.

I'm enjoying collecting houseplants in my bedroom and choosing each one carefully since my windows face west. As soon as I start repotting a new plant it takes me right back to outdoor gardening and it feels awesome so I have to admit I do love each and every one of my potted plants. Seeing them thrive and seeing new growth is very encouraging and I can't help but smile every time I walk into my room.

Frillylily,

Hehe, in you go to the compost pile and out you come again :D I hate moving, for six years I never put in a garden and only did sparse containers because I couldn't dig up the ground. The ground where I live still isn't wholly mine but I can plant what I wish and prune what I may. All it took was leaving that one bush and I decided to avoid planting anything I would miss. At the old place, there were some hostas and a peony planted that were there wayy before I was ever around. Even though I didn't plant them, I still cared for them and miss them. So, I got some peony poppies and a bargain bag of hostas coming to make up for them :D I'm so glad your garden is coming back together !!

I feel badly for all the plants I've ripped out that I thought were weeds but might have been things I've planted >.< cross fingers -> riiip ----cringe , yikes.

GrannieMarie,

I know there's an allure to being out in the dirt but now you have free labor! Luckily, we are blessed enough to have house plants available to us, to care for and tend to.

It doesn't sound silly at all, I get choked up over shrubs , so I'm right there with you 💗 I had to send a message to my s.o saying that my junipers arrived and we're almost delivered to the wrong house! I called them my hoooonipers though, because my plants sometimes have pet names and I'm a very silly gal

The researching is also part of the fun, the Internet has made the information so accessible, like on this beautiful site.

The joy of freshening up a plant and placing it lovingly into a new home is an exquisite feeling. Indoor plants do seem to take a lot of attention, I'm glad they have a plant momma who will care for them so dearly.🌱

Side story : A couple weeks ago my s.o and I were in the garden section of lowes and we were just browsing. ( just browsing is how it began and I walked out with more ninebarks lol) We came upon this lady (who must have had some sort of spidey gardening sense ) who was looking for an evergreen to go with another tree on her property. So all three of us started talking ( she reminded me of me a little bit. Kind of talking to herself but also to anyone around as well ) and she explained what she was looking for which was kind of specific. After showing her some junipers, my s.o found a little tree next to the junipers that both her and I had overlooked. He pointed I out and it seemed to fit the bill. She ended up walking off with that little tree ( it had a cute little droopy branch that I'll never forget ) and he turns to me and says " I think I just helped that lady pick out a tree " I told him that he sure did and that it was a wonderful thing. If I were her, every time I saw that tree I would remember how I came to find it. Depending on how it worked I'd either praise or curse that couple at the garden center lol I would remember that connection though and it would warm me, like it does coming from the opposite perspective.

Point being, that this all matters even if it's just to me. Your stories and your thoughts have meaning for me. If my junipers ( hooooonipers ) survive I'll alway remember how I they came to be. How I desperately found this one free gardening board and posted hoping someone would see it and be able to help me. I'll see a freesia and give a thought to Carols freesias and how much they meant to her. To throughly enjoy working outside because there might be a time when I'm unable. Thank you all to who have posted and who may in the future <3

Its just wonderful that there are people here who "get it". Most of my friends don't. But:



I was going to pull the pink zinnias out of that pot because the wrong seeds were in the packet. They were supposed to be giant purple. But now? How could I possibly even think of it? Most of my friends get a little glassy eyed when I get on the garden subject, and wonder why I'm not growing tomatoes. Well, I tell them I only want to do ornamentals - Sprouts grows tomatoes for me every day. I do grow my own herbs. The tatty looking one is a parsley whose time is over I think. The poor ficus in the bg and the blue thing are the neighbor's. Mobile home lots are fairly small and really close together.