Beginner Gardening: Do you have a funny gardening story?, 1 by ButterflyChaser

ButterflyChaser wrote:
HI Debra, my space is actually very small, but I have no lawn. I've crammed every bed full. My motto is, "If you can see the ground, you don't have enough plants in there." And another motto is, "If you have lawn, your wasting valuable garden space."

Another funny story: Sheer circumstance got me into gardening. My sis, who believes the whole world should be asphalt, moved into a house with a long row of cannas in the backyard. I really don't know how I even knew they were cannas, having absolutely no gardening experience. But she mowed them down every two weeks and I felt sorry for them. I asked if I could have some. She handed me about 20 walmart bags and a shovel and said, "Take them all!"

Well, I only took half, considering I knew nothing of gardening. I knew they'd probably die. But I came home with about 200 or so. I dug holes all over the place and stuck a few in each hole--all the way around my house. I thought they'd surely like one spot and they'd live there. Then I'd have one clump.

A month later, they were ALL up and growing. So I went back to get the other half. And I planted them all around too. By August, they were 4 ft tall and loaded in blooms!!!

By July of the next year, those babies grew to 7 ft tall and surrounded my house--a canna forest. We could sit on the porch and be completely secluded. It was just incredible. And I was hopelessly hooked. There's just nothing better than a flower you can look up to!

Do you know how many people stood in front of these cannas and said, "But you can't grow cannas in Arkansas!" Huh? Really? Shhhhh, don't tell my cannas that!

For a year or two, my brother, who lives next door, kept saying, "You can't grow anything in our red clay." A couple of years ago, he began saying, "Do mine next!!!" And now that I've started on his place, he says, "Give me some more red and purple ones! I need more flowers. I want a banana too!" LOL

What can I suggest for you to grow? Anything you see that you like. And don't listen to anyone else about what will grow and what won't. I grow just about anything I want in full sun, in drought, in neglect. I even grow hostas in full sun, believe it or not. I've learned to ignore the advice of others and try things for myself. Another motto is, "It won't grow here if I don't plant it." So if I like it, I plant it.

Below is a pic of the first canna, Richard Wallace, that made me a gardener. Imagine hundreds of these and being "eye to eye" with them or having to strain your neck to look up to them. The memory still makes my heart race.

And did I mention, they attract those "giant moths"? LOL