Hi everyone,

Am I the only crazy one who apologizes to plants and flowers when I have to pull them out? I just did a bit of fall cleanup in prep for my spring garden and there were several plants that, now that some of the foliage is dying back, finally have enough light to grow (I know, in the fall, right?) I had to clear the space so I pulled them out and apologized to every one.

I removed a huge patch of overcrowded California Poppies too, and apologized to every single one. Caught myself doing it and thought, am I the only crazy one who does that?

Yet I don't apologize to weeds....

Well at least you apologize...I sometimes threaten my plants if they don't give me blooms

You are not crazy. Our plants and flowers are our "green children". I always feel bad when I have to pull out stuff ....

PAgirl63 said:You are not crazy. Our plants and flowers are our "green children". I always feel bad when I have to pull out stuff ....

Tarev, I just beg mine!

PAgirl, you're so right! That's exactly how I feel about each and every one!

Crazy? You are concerned about being crazy? Now that is crazy. I determined many decades ago that I'm 😜 It eliminated all worry. Very liberating.
I apologize to the birds who crab at me b/c the bird feeders are empty. My 1940s house as a lot of teeny tiny spiders. I apologize to them when I kill one. (My limit is that I generally don't apologize to cockroaches.)
I apologize to plants on certain occasions, but mostly I just talk to them. I found myself talking to a monarch butterfly just a few days ago -- gave it a big 'welcome and thank you' for being in my garden.
Crazy? I'm not worried about it.

tx_flower_child said:Crazy? You are concerned about being crazy? Now that is crazy. I determined many decades ago that I'm 😜 It eliminated all worry. Very liberating.
I apologize to the birds who crab at me b/c the bird feeders are empty. My 1940s house as a lot of teeny tiny spiders. I apologize to them when I kill one. (My limit is that I generally don't apologize to cockroaches.)
I apologize to plants on certain occasions, but mostly I just talk to them. I found myself talking to a monarch butterfly just a few days ago -- gave it a big 'welcome and thank you' for being in my garden.
Crazy? I'm not worried about it.

Excellent Joan. I'm obviously in good company. I used to set bugs who got into my house free until the one night I caught one, opened the back door to set it out and about 50 others flew in! Now I apologize to them but make it very clear that the house is mine and the outside is theirs.

This made me laugh I find myself talking to my plants all the time - sometimes it's encouragement, sometimes it's "grow dammit", and when I had to move and leave most of them behind I apologized and actually cried tears since they were my "babies" that I started from the ground up Even though I took starts of most of them, it tore me up to leave the rest behind. Then when I saw they were getting no care (DON'T GO BACK!!!) it tore me up so I had to quit driving by Joanna if you're crazy then there are a lot of us out there joining you - ok maybe we're all a little crazy - but in a good way

Made me laugh too Ginny! I absolutely despise thinning seedlings. I know it's for the greater good but I hate snuffing baby plants. I planted a mass of zinnia seeds this spring and as I was clipping them out I was thinking what if this is the color I really like, what if this is a great performer, what if the butterflies wanted this one?

Along the same lines Joanna I am having an inner dialogue about your touch me not seeds. I adore them, they are so easy to grow, go ahead Kabby and ask for some, but then you will have to commit impatients genocide.

Pinching plants back. I don't want to pinch the suckers off the tomato plants, I like big bushes of them. But you are supposed to so the energy can be put into the fruit.

Unlike my personal life, I don't like birth control among my plants!

Whose next? We know you're out there!

Kabby said:Made me laugh too Ginny! I absolutely despise thinning seedlings. I know it's for the greater good but I hate snuffing baby plants. I planted a mass of zinnia seeds this spring and as I was clipping them out I was thinking what if this is the color I really like, what if this is a great performer, what if the butterflies wanted this one?

Along the same lines Joanna I am having an inner dialogue about your touch me not seeds. I adore them, they are so easy to grow, go ahead Kabby and ask for some, but then you will have to commit impatients genocide.

Pinching plants back. I don't want to pinch the suckers off the tomato plants, I like big bushes of them. But you are supposed to so the energy can be put into the fruit.

Unlike my personal life, I don't like birth control among my plants!

Whose next? We know you're out there!

It is SOOOOO nice to be among people who are like me!
Let me know if you change your mind Kabby. I could send you 5 or 10 seeds, and then you wouldn't get more than 5 or 10 plants. And they die off in the fall and you'd have seeds to give away.

Tsk Tsk tsk, five or ten Joanna? I would like to order 1 ton please.
😝😝

I got lots of seeds that I collected only to see if I could. I can make a list and let you addicts have 'em all, free of charge. Like the Mad Hatter's and the March Hare's tea party, there's no room, no room!

BTW, I have actually apologized to weeds. Just told them that I was sorry but that they were growing at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kabby said:Tsk Tsk tsk, five or ten Joanna? I would like to order 1 ton please.
😝😝

Just tell me where to send them Kabby! The seeds keep for a long, long time too.

@tarev oh my goodness that's hilarious!

I don't recall apologizing to a plant, but I've nearly cried over them when I accidently pulled off a branch/stem.
oh and I apologized to a toad once. I was whacking away at a weeded (soon-to-be-flower) garden, and I slammed down the shovel, only to find a toad with half a leg missing. I cried out loud and apologized like crazy. I nearly had a panic attack!
Turns out his leg was tucked in under his belly, and so I didn't really hack his leg off like I thought. lol Phew!

No. I have apologized even to some weeds when I pull them out. Life matters. Even weeds. I just ask them to not choose my flowerbeds.

I treat my plants the way I treat my pets. They're living organisms that depend on me for survival, so if I have to do something rough to them for their own good, I feel bad about it and apologize.

I "Think" talk to my plants all the time, mostly in my head, but a lot of times, out loud. Where would we be without their companionship? Their beauty? Sometimes I'll come out with a big exclamation of when I'm suddenly overwhelmed with someone's display of beauty. Maybe that's why I like Daylilies so much - because there is freshness every day! "Surprise - I'm here", they seem to announce.
I guess I like to prepare plants sometimes for having to remove them from where they've seeded themselves, if they can't stay there. And if I have to do some major pruning, I like to give them fair warning.

In the 70's I came across a book called The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. The last chapter told of a community in northern Scotland called Findhorn, where I was able to join in on an Experience Week in 1975. It was a great privilege to be there and absorb some of the principles of living in harmony with all life.

Thank you @joannakat for opening up this thread. How great it feels to be crazy with so many other people on this amazing website.

And another great big thank you to @dave and family for letting this happen!

HemNorth said:

In the 70's I came across a book called The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. The last chapter told of a community in northern Scotland called Findhorn, where I was able to join in on an Experience Week in 1975. It was a great privilege to be there and absorb some of the principles of living in harmony with all life.

Thank you @joannakat for opening up this thread. How great it feels to be crazy with so many other people on this amazing website.

And another great big thank you to @dave and family for letting this happen!

I think they do react to our "vibes." All my remaining marigolds froze yesterday and so I pulled them up today and laid them over the beds where I planted bulbs a short while ago (they're supposed to help the soil become bulb-friendly!). As I pulled them out, I thanked them for providing so much beauty and pleasure for so long, for providing nectar for the bees and other creatures, and for adding nutrients to my beds.

I've been talking to my pansies and they're still blooming! Even after taking a beating during a recent rainstorm! I don't know what they'll look like tomorrow though--it's snowing here and freezing. Literally. It's 32 degrees! Where's the brrrrrrr emoji?

(echoing your thanks to @dave)

@HemNorth

Forgot to say, how amazing that Experience Week must have been! Hope you'll tell us about it at some point.

@joannakat

I'd love to share - it was an incredible experience, and thanks for asking. Perhaps in the winter. Maybe I'll start a blog and include it in there?

Pansies are amazingly resilient. Another flower that can start blooming in the late fall and go dormant under snow and then pop out smiling in the early spring is the Polyanthus Primrose, the kind you get at Safeway in the winter - early spring.

Another that lies dormant under snow is the Hellebore niger. Mine is just starting to bloom, and will be there when the snow is gone. Like magic!

@HemNorth - you went to Findhorn? Wow! How awesome!

I first learned about Findhorn when I was staying with friends in Nelson, British Columbia in 1979. The sister of one of my friends had been to Findhorn. Suffice it to say that it changed her sister's life.

One constant in my life through many travels and moves has been the book 'The Findhorn Garden, Pioneering a New Vision of Man and Nature in Cooperation' by the Findhorn Community, 1975.

Anyone seen the movie 'My Dinner with Andre', where Andre Gregory tells Wallace Shawn of all these seemingly unbelievable journeys and experiences? Guess they were all true b/c one was about Findhorn.

Thank you, Nora, for reminding me of this magical place. I hope it hasn't changed. And apologies to the rest of y'all for driveling on.