Hide your hibiscus...or risk being arrested :)

Pretty funny. I better go cover mine up...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127953,00.html

LOL. That's a good one. I feel for Mr. Davis tho, all what he went through and what an ordeal that must had been for him.
The Sheriff goes through our area here all the time, and so far so good on my end. I just hope that never happens to me

When I think about it...yeah...I feel sorry for the guy and it's not all that funny. The police in this instance are complete idiots. First of all, who would grow mary jane right in the FRONT yard!? lol Good grief. These guys are idiots - especially if the hibiscus was in bloom, for goodness sake. And to inquire about what he's going to do with the watermelons out back? Come on.

Just as interesting was the second story...Lady in labor and gets a ticket on the way to the hospital....BOY! Jo

yes harris county, houston tx. is a joke lol.
a customer of mine ran up to me at market saturday to tell me about that. she bought a few plants from me last yr.

Please try to remember the good that Law Enforcement does.

Narc

I agree. The police do a lot of good work. It's kind of funny when something like this happens, but I figure if the police didn't have anything better to do, we are doing okay. In my neighborhood, you get a parking ticket for facing the wrong way on the street. If the police don't have murderers and rapists to chase instead of ticketing my car, I must live in a safe area where they are doing their job pretty well in the first place.

that's a hoot....

that is very funny--it appears the police need to do their homework. They do great work but occasionally stupid things happen.

The cops aren't any more informed here in Wisconsin. They nearly had my DIL for possession of marijuana. Turned out to be a ziploc filled with dried oregano! (I know, cuz I had a bag just like it!) LOL

Crazy (or crazed!) world we're living in, eh?
~julie~

That is SO FUNNY!!! I just sent it to all my friends. That poor guy.

I heard that a couple of years ago some police arrested a nice grandmother for growing Black Cloud Poppies in her yard, convinced that she was selling opium!!!!

Years (many) ago I lived in a house on a corner. The side street ended at a warehouse which at that time was the largest herb distributing warehouse in the county. Herbs gathered in the mountains, Ginsing, etc. One day two men came to the house, identified themselves as federal inspecters connected to the warehouse and wanted to know why we were growing Marijuana in our flower bed! They had seen it as they drove by. My mother didn't have a clue what they were talking about, she had never heard of Marijuana! Then, seeing her distress, they asked if she had a bird, and if she did, did she throw the seeds out when she cleaned the cage. Yes, of course she did. That's where the pot came from! Seems it was a fairly common occurence before they started sterilizing seed. They pulled up all of mother's BIG, pretty plants and went on their way. LOL
Ah the age of innocence, gone, never to return again.
Pati

Obviously many law enforcement officers aren't as well trained as we are led to believe they are. Yes, they do a lot of good and protect us pretty well, but in this day for them to not even know the difference between 'weed' and hibiscus which is native to their own state is pathetic. And to ask what he intends to do with melons, etc. is without excuse.

A lady on the poppy forum had spread a lot of seed in her front yard and said the teenage kids were ripping it off. One of the readers from the USDA told her that was because she had planted opium poppies and that it was illegal and one of these days their agents would enforce it.

There are many kinds of poppies and only one or 2 kinds produce opium. The USDA surely has more to do than go around inspecting people's yards to see if they are raising the right kind of poppies to produce opium. If not, they need to reduce the number of employees in that department and save us taxpayers a lot of money.

julie---well atleast you can't be arrested for smoking oregano!!!!! Bet that was a nice high....hahahahah Marie

Marie...it *was* a tasty one at that...and the memory is one I'll never forget. LOL
~julie~

The problem also stems from the reality that the cops have dealt with "growers" who are really dumb enough to plant pot in the front yard. It's really a good thing that most crooks are stupid. Makes law enforcement easier. ('til they get a lawyer) Frank

patischell, the same thing happened to my Mother last year. She throws bird seed onto her patio every day and as a result she has a beautiful row of sunflowers surrounding her patio. Last year she had a new plant growing, one she really liked because it was so bushy and tall. She wanted it to go to seed so that she could save the seeds to make a row along her back fence to serve as a privacy fence. It was marijuana! My Mother's friends convinced her of this, so they phoned the police, and we now have some great photos of my small 80 year-old Mother standing beside this huge marijuana plant while the laughing police officer chopped it down.

Mariajose, apparently one of those seeds missed the sterilizing "machine"! LOL If you still have this picture I would LOVE to see it. I wish I had a picture of the day my mother stood by while two men in suites and ties were pulling out most of her flower bed!
Pati

I don't know whether to laugh or be terrified when I see things like this. LOL I grow the H. cannibinus and the first year I saw the leaves, I will that thing to bloom! Why? I live next to a city cop and a county cop lives next to him! LOL

Patischell, my mother has the photos. As I described, she is very private and I'm sure she would have a cow if I posted that photo on the internet . . . pretty hilarious thought, tho. :-) Not in her eyes, I'm sure.

I don't know if the seed was from the birdseed or if a little birdie dropped it there while munching on her sunflower seeds. The birds land on top of the sunflowers and lean forward to peck the seeds out of the blossom. Needless to say, the area around the sunflowers is very very rich and those flowers really grow. My mother loves wildlife and attracts all kinds of critters.

LOL!
I have plenty of Texas Star seeds! Any one who would like to have some seeds for SASE.... email me!

Have you ever looked at the leaves of a Cleome? It has stopped my daughter's friends in their tracks a few times... For a second, they thought my daughters had a "cool" Mom--NOT!

I thought I had a nice clump of Cleome popping up in my mums this Summer until I realized it was getting awfully
BIG and took a closer look at what turned out to be a five foot marijuana plant (yes, I tore it out)! I'm not sure if it was just wild hemp, which is fairly common in Iowa (it used to be grown here commercially) or whether it was pot from somebody's private garden tour... we have some BIG parties, and I can't be everywhere, you know. I am pretty sure Wanda was always in sight when she toured the garden recently, though seeing her naked ladies thread does make me wonder.
Don

LOL! Don, you devil!! Your garden is so big with winding paths that a hundred "Naked Ladies" could be running around in there and you'd never see them. Hmmm. I can think of a couple places that had perfect foliage...

It seems to me I saw the pot before you did when we were touring the garden.
Wondered why you were so mellow... ;)

For 12 years I headed up a unit at Girl Scout Camp in one of our county's wilder parks. Creek stomping and cooking over a fire were always fun, But pointing out the wild hemp (marijuana) farmers grew for rope in the 1940s was always the highlight of our hikes. Find a sunny spot & I'd find hemp!
Nope, haven't smoked it since college--"but I didn't inhale"...

What do you all know about pre-emergent herbicides?
ns

Okay--If they want to arrest someone, maybe they should check out my garden: Cleome! Tall and leafy with big flower heads. An old favorite in gardens and re-seeds like mad.

Here is a scan of a leaf.

And here is the bloom. I mailed over 50 packets of these seeds for white, pink or purple Cleome all over the US to DGers last year.
Am I due to be raided?

I don't know about you, Wanda...but how about me?
Here's the first one...

I couldn't get it all in one picture...the sucker was nearly 8 feet tall.

And FYI...I found it in a mess of weeds growing on a pile of top soil delivered to us early this spring. Oh yeah, there's also Jimson Weed (Devil's trumpet/Datura/loco weed) in the same group of "volunteers". :-D (...and would you believe I found *after* I wrote about the "oregano" incident? :-O)

~julie~
Edited to add:
It sure would be nice if someone could tell WHAT this plant is. I may need to give the authorities some kind of explanation.
:-)

This message was edited Aug 11, 2004 10:06 AM

So ... where to find a picture of Texas Star hibiscus???

We have red-faced cops up here too.

My hairdresser has cats and dries catnip hanging upside down high up in his enclosed front verandah. He lives right opposite a school and his dad is a police detective. So you'd think a fairly law abiding person.

One night last year cops rushed in with a warrant to arrest them and confiscate the -- tata -- catnip. Seems some school mum had seen what she thought was pot, drying in full view of the street!! I don't think so..

Many grow ops are found up here, full houses with all rooms used for growing pot. One or so per week closed down.

Inanda

Back in the late 1960s, I had a college/gardener friend who grew a row of "weed" right between her tomatoes & corn IN TOWN! She kept pinching them back and finally took them in after someone else "harvested" a couple of plants.

It's not unusual for the Feds to find a patch out in the middle of our 12 foot cornfields that someblody has planted. If the farmer hits it first with his combine, he has a mess on his hands!

You guys should check this thread out.(:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/340237/

Of of pics of the Texas Star. :D