Teka
Chillin' In The Garden
When our homestead was much younger, I had a lot of ground to cover and little money. I planted a euonymous vine that did a great job of covering bare ground and making it seem landscaped. 30 years later, the vine is a bane. It climbs up the house walls, grows THROUGH the walls and covers over the plants I have added to the beds. As a result, I spend a lot of time ripping it up! It served it's time.
Likewise, I planted a native ground cedar, and rip it out...
My most recent monstrosity? A Giant Red Amaranth heirloom seed. The plants were stunning. They did rise to about 8 feet tall with striking red seed heads. They were so beautiful that my mother asked for some, even though I clearly described the multitude of seedlings we were dealing with. She is willing to do anything to attract birds to her house in town and I'd noted that the seed heads were great bird attractors.
Here at home, last spring, they were everywhere!!!!! Birds had to have carried them, because the seedlings sprouted in the most unusual places. (This year, they are persisting in a more manageable number -- in the hundreds -- not thousands!)
Anyway, when I took my mom 3-4 plants last spring, she asked whether they would come back this year. I assured her that they would, in far greater numbers than she could imagine. I really warned her! But, you know how moms are! She didn't imagine that to be a problem. Her friends loved the plant and asked for seedlings.... She and my brother enjoyed the plants. They were a source of conversation by passers-by, at card night, at church. When a passing hurricane blew the stalks over, they tied them back up and waited eagerly for the heads to re-sprout. They did, ending the season in a blaze of multi-headed glory.
This year, the small space designated for the red giants is ovewhelmed with hundreds of seedlings. They've pulled, and re-pulled. The red plague is sprouting in the cracks of the sidewalk, in her sedum bed, in every area of her house. I told my brother to take a blowtorch to the cracks!!!!! I shudder to think where the rain has carried the seeds, how the entire town will be ablaze in a riot of red seedlings, with everyone wondering where the plague came from!
Likewise, I planted a native ground cedar, and rip it out...
My most recent monstrosity? A Giant Red Amaranth heirloom seed. The plants were stunning. They did rise to about 8 feet tall with striking red seed heads. They were so beautiful that my mother asked for some, even though I clearly described the multitude of seedlings we were dealing with. She is willing to do anything to attract birds to her house in town and I'd noted that the seed heads were great bird attractors.
Here at home, last spring, they were everywhere!!!!! Birds had to have carried them, because the seedlings sprouted in the most unusual places. (This year, they are persisting in a more manageable number -- in the hundreds -- not thousands!)
Anyway, when I took my mom 3-4 plants last spring, she asked whether they would come back this year. I assured her that they would, in far greater numbers than she could imagine. I really warned her! But, you know how moms are! She didn't imagine that to be a problem. Her friends loved the plant and asked for seedlings.... She and my brother enjoyed the plants. They were a source of conversation by passers-by, at card night, at church. When a passing hurricane blew the stalks over, they tied them back up and waited eagerly for the heads to re-sprout. They did, ending the season in a blaze of multi-headed glory.
This year, the small space designated for the red giants is ovewhelmed with hundreds of seedlings. They've pulled, and re-pulled. The red plague is sprouting in the cracks of the sidewalk, in her sedum bed, in every area of her house. I told my brother to take a blowtorch to the cracks!!!!! I shudder to think where the rain has carried the seeds, how the entire town will be ablaze in a riot of red seedlings, with everyone wondering where the plague came from!
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