My Mother, her Oriental Poppies, and the Asparagus Patch

United States
November 15, 2007 1:20am CST
I was planting carrot seeds last spring and my mother was digging up poppies. I was planting the carrots in rows and had to really focus on where the teeny seeds landed so I knew where to place the next ones... when my mother called to me from across the yard - WAY across the yard - so far across the yard that I had to look up from my work to respond to her. She had worn herself out and wanted me to dig up the rest of the poppies... right now. I'm like "I'm planting carrot seeds over here, do you mind?" So in a snit she digs the rest of them up by herself and kills them all off in her fury. She did the same thing with her asparagus patch... and asparagus patches take years to get established! She wanted me to dig them up and transplant them closer to her house. I refused, pointing out that they obviously liked it where they were, and that they were certain to be unhappy in the shade where she wanted to move them. Well, she didn't take my advice - certainly her prerogative - and in a snit, dug them all up and transplanted them the the shady spot by her back door. Every single one of them died within a few days, maybe a week. Not another asparagus plant anywhere in her garden or yard. Such a loss. I've done similar things myself - in life, not in the garden - but every time somebody accuses me of 'cutting off my nose to spite my face' I wanna slap them. I would rather hear about your biggest gardening boo boos than anything else, but whatever you got to say is welcome.
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1 response
• Philippines
15 Nov 07
just one of those "i told you so" lines.... well there are times when that happened to me, i simply shrug them off for lack of interest on wasting my time arguing or that effort to slap... so i just wait for an opportune time to get even with those "see, i told you so" lines... it just feels good after when people start scratching their heads with those lines.
1 person likes this