So I have a little problem. Big deal. Ya think you got it all together? Ha! You ain’t so perfect. You can go around acting like “Little Miss Goody Two Shoes” all you want. I know the truth. The only difference between us honey is I tell the truth. I’m a plant slut and not ashamed of it. I’m like Ado Annie in Oklahoma!, I just cain’t say no.
I know I try to grow too many things but what are you gonna do? There’s so much stuff out there. Eggplant, cotton, sedges, magnolias, peppers, bananas, elephant ears, lantana, variegated corn, and cannas. Ooooooo, my, my, my. The cannas. How can I deprive myself of the pleasure of knowing them all? Dahlias. Give them up? I don’t think so. And my Agaves. Sweet Mother of Succulents. How could I not surrender myself to these thorny muscular spears of the plant world? There’s so many of them but it’s hard to beat the straight species Agave americana.
You know you shouldn’t touch the tip of that leaf. But every once in awhile. That little voice in your head tells you “Go ahead. You know you wanna”. You just have to lick the tip of your finger and feel that hard sharp point. Oh yea. Hurts sooo good. They are not even high maintenance. And their cousin Furcraea foetida ‘Mediopicta’ – no spines.
Or their half brother the XMangave ‘Macho Mocha’.
Okay, some now say this is just plain old Manfreda not a hybrid of Manfreda and Agave but I like the word Mangave.
I usually don’t plan to buy as many plants as I do each year. But they keep introducing new ones. I have to have the new ones. When you think about it really it’s no different than the folks in MIS or IT here upgrading their software or equipment. They don’t use the same stuff year after year. Admittedly there are times when the plant upgrade amounts to a downgrade. Like in the technology world, sometimes new things in the plant world get introduced before enough testing and evaluation has taken place. But, when you are a plant slut you’re not always worrying about a long term relationship with your purchase. It merely has to satisfy your need at that moment. Like the oil fern I bought this summer, Microsorum steerii.
I think it’s going to be high-maintenance. And that’s going to lead to problems. I’m going to forget to water it and it’s going to whine and carry on about how I just don’t care anymore. Well, la-dee-dah. When I said I loved it I didn’t mean I wanted to marry it.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all about instant gratification or a one-season stand. There is permanence within plant sluttiness. I added several woodies to my collection this year. I’m trying two Magnolia grandiflora (that’s southern magnolias, y’all) cultivars that are supposed to be hardy to zone 5 – ‘Kay Parris’ and ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’. Or was it ‘D.D. Blanchard’? Anyway, the important thing is I have them. I also purchased two cultivars of Sciadopitys verticillata, Japanese umbrella pine, one of them chartreuse of course. Continuing the group of 2 theme, I got another Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’. See, I’m all about pairing up. Sometimes though, three is even better than two. Like the triangle I’ll create with my Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Fernspray Gold’, XCupressocyparis lawsoniana ‘Gold Rider’, and the new Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’. Yes, each is different. But they are also all three upright pyramidal (more or less) chartreuse evergreens, giving the eye that repetition it craves so badly. And I get to add three more plants to my collection.
Now it is coming to that time of year when we do our major designing for next year. I’ll be looking at dozens of catalogues and websites searching for those perfect plants that solve all my problems at the IMA. And looking at all those perfect plants that cause my problem at home. Sing it Ado Annie.
November 14th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Chug the java and sharpen the shovels!
November 14th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Uh-huh!
November 16th, 2008 at 4:56 am
problem? I don’t really get that bit about a problem?…
November 17th, 2008 at 8:04 am
May be I’m looking at it all wrong?
November 26th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Your slutty behavior is too self limiting by the size of your abode. You need to move to a place with a bigger yard or buy your neighbor’s lot and tear down the house. You need to overextend yourself to the point where you don’t dare leave town during the growing season for fear of falling behind; where you savor your days off to catch up on your home gardening; where you resent the time spent with friends and loved ones because it is intruding on your gardening time; where the fall is unnerving because the days are too short to allow adequate after-work time in the garden; where you plant fifty trees that will reach appropriate size when you are seventy; where you wonder how you are going to stay in your home (and garden) when your physical stamina wanes…
November 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Chuck. My my my. I understand so much of what you are saying. I fear I am already doing many of those very things you speak of. I do have permission from one neighbor to take over their yard. Perhaps I’m on my way to even greater sluttiness.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
The oil fern seems to be really easy to grow. I have had one for about 6 months, it is very healthy. It is on a sunporch in Massachusetts that gets fairly cold at night but is warm in the daytime. Supposedly it can stand 30°F, which is below freezing.
It has entire leaves, no ferny splitting of the leaves, and usually such ferns are tolerant of dryness. I water it when the soil feels dryish. I would not let it dry out completely, but it does not seem to be a high humidity fern.
The amazing thing is the color of the fronds, they are an oily metallic blue. I am trying to find out why, but have no information yet.
Dana
December 11th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Great site. Thanks…
December 11th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Dana, I’m finding the same things about the oil fern. Seems pretty tough. Lucky for it.
antiquarian – thanks for visiting, glad you like the site, don’t forget to stop by often
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