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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2007 20:27:46 GMT
This is actually quite a serious question from me for a change  Was looking at my plants this evening and was wondering how they have survived for so long without our help when nowadays it seems they basically couldn't exist without us propogating/collecting seeds/taking cuttings. Honestly, are we the masters or have they got us all fooled?  Seriously though, if it wasn't for humans, wouldn't the world just be covered in weeds? |
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Post by jean on Aug 9, 2007 20:32:18 GMT
Most of our plants started off as weeds DG and if left to their own devices would probably revert back - survival of the fittest, don't think some of the fancy things we grow in our gardens would make it somehow - Buddleja an exception though ;D
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2007 20:33:35 GMT
So, you're basically saying that without us, many of the varieties we enjoy today wouldn't exist? Mind blowing when you think about it. One point in particular, gladioli. I have a number of them in my garden that I planted when I first moved in and got the bug. They never fail me and always come back each year, but as soon as they bear flowers they starting going all floppy and I end up cutting them back. What's the point of that??? Stupid plants! |
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Post by jean on Aug 9, 2007 21:18:11 GMT
Perhaps they just need a bit of support DG I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to get a sneaky visit a specialist nursery where they cross clematis looking for the special ones to market, it can take 12 years, and Mr Evison has my total respect for his dedication. (Still can't work out why I came out empty handed will have to try a revisit  ) |
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Post by Weeterrier on Aug 9, 2007 22:05:45 GMT
Drunkenone...............THEY ARE NOT WEEDS!!!!! They are merely plants you don't want in your garden.
Presumably without intervention, we would be growing our native plants more, instead of wheeching them out to put in something more exotic. So they wouldn't be disappearing. And because they are natives, they would propagate themselves. We have made work (pleasure) for ourselves by our desire to acquire something different.
And I cannot let you get away with saying Gladioli are stupid! That such beauty comes from such an uninspiring little brown lump, I find amazing. When it comes to the plants and the wildlife in my garden, I tend to think that I am the stupid one.
Sorry, don't mean to be horrid. I just don't think man is as clever as he thinks he is, when any number of micro-organisms could wipe us out. We cannot even eradicate marestail! Mother nature rules this world, not man.
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Post by JennyWrenn on Aug 10, 2007 6:29:16 GMT
Yes I see all points raised here - I am always amazed how cuttings just know what to do (quote from Christine) I love glads but find all that staking a bother but here are some of my green glads from last year - this year they came up again but with all the rain they dont look as good   |
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Post by Weeterrier on Aug 10, 2007 8:16:57 GMT
Aren't cuttings amazing? How do they do that?  |
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Post by thecleaninglady on Aug 10, 2007 8:24:10 GMT
It never ceases to amaze me the way you get plants just popping up in your garden, stone path or wherever, that you have never even planted.
Or when you pass a derelict piece of land that nobody tends, and see the range of plants that are growing and thriving there without any help from humans.
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Post by nightowl on Aug 10, 2007 9:40:01 GMT
Drunkenone...............THEY ARE NOT WEEDS!!!!! They are merely plants you don't want in your garden. Presumably without intervention, we would be growing our native plants more, instead of wheeching them out to put in something more exotic. So they wouldn't be disappearing. And because they are natives, they would propagate themselves. We have made work (pleasure) for ourselves by our desire to acquire something different. And I cannot let you get away with saying Gladioli are stupid! That such beauty comes from such an uninspiring little brown lump, I find amazing. When it comes to the plants and the wildlife in my garden, I tend to think that I am the stupid one. Sorry, don't mean to be horrid. I just don't think man is as clever as he thinks he is, when any number of micro-organisms could wipe us out. We cannot even eradicate marestail! Mother nature rules this world, not man. Hear, hear WT!!  The thing that amazes me is what can come from a tiny seed, some so small they are almost dust!!!! |
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Post by MamIDdau on Aug 10, 2007 16:36:44 GMT
Well many of the varieties we have nowadays wouldn't exist if we didn't play about with nature so they need molly coddling more than some of the ones that mother nature created.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2007 17:03:34 GMT
It is amazing how things survive and multiply, isn't it? ... basicaly, I guess that plants just want to grow. I have a horrible bit of the garden with granite slabs, old pipes etc. a few inches down ... you couldn't dig a hole big enough for a rootball, but I've found that if you plant very young seedlings/cuttings in this patch, they thrive ... obviously their roots just find a route through to the soil in a way I would not be able to do using a trowel etc. ... cheers ...
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Post by Weeterrier on Aug 11, 2007 12:07:47 GMT
That's why it pays not to give up on a plant, they won't give up till they are totally beaten. A feed, a trim, a change of position, all can work wonders. They don't give up as easily as we do. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2007 12:28:23 GMT
Actually, when I started gardening I diligently read plant encyclopaedias and almost gave up, knowing I'd be able to give a plant, say, three out four of the conditions it likes but not all four. I've since realised that there is only one thing you can't beat: I can't plant lime-haters. Plants will put up with little soil depth, shade etc. (as long as they're well fed and otherwise cossetted) but there's simply no point planting a lime-hater in my garden (actually, this is probably why my lupins became slug fodder - they weren't happy anyway, so were not strong enough to ward off the little blighters). But other than that ... I've evolved from plant encyclopaedia slave to "have a go and see what happens" ... cheers ...
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Post by jean on Aug 11, 2007 19:49:38 GMT
CC thats why it pays to have a nosey over other peoples garden fences and see whats doing well, then you can pick what you want in your gaden  BTW will have plenty yellow crocosmia bulbils if you want some (they grow like weeds anywhere) PM me if you want some. |
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Post by Weeterrier on Aug 12, 2007 9:11:00 GMT
I agree CC, too much reading before starting a project, can make life more difficult. I spent quite a few years making handmade curtains for a living. A friend wanted to sow something, but said she didn't want to have to buy all the proper equipment, like dressmaking shears etc., She had read a book! Luckily I started with a doll's sewing machine and an old pair of kitchen scissors, referring to books only many years later if something technical was required.
I think a bit of common sense, a willingness to accept failure but not be defeated, and a faith in our plants' desire to live goes a long way in gardening.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2007 12:42:20 GMT
CC thats why it pays to have a nosey over other peoples garden fences and see whats doing well, then you can pick what you want in your gaden . A lesson since learnt, Jlottie ;D ... actually, many of the plants currently in my garden started life as cuttings from the back and front of a derelict house a few streets down from us ... including penstemon that is growing out into the street (the house has been borded up for years, it - or rather its garden - is my fantasy house). Needless to say, all these plants thrive ... cheers ... |
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Post by Biggles on Aug 20, 2007 18:42:05 GMT
Funny how cuttings that are 'borrowed' (pinched) grow better than the ones acquired honestly!!--Now I dont really do that sort of thing-- (I am honest --and you beleive me?)
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Post by Shrubrose on Aug 20, 2007 18:47:50 GMT
Well myacer, my mother has no such scruples. She' ll 'pick a piece' from anything and anywhere. She's the type that empties her plate into her napkin 'for the dog' in a restaurant, rather than ask for a 'doggy bag'.  |
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Post by Weeterrier on Aug 20, 2007 19:07:09 GMT
Funny how cuttings that are 'borrowed' (pinched) grow better than the ones acquired honestly!!--Now I dont really do that sort of thing-- (I am honest --and you beleive me?) Nope ;D |
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Post by Weeterrier on Aug 20, 2007 19:08:51 GMT
Well myacer, my mother has no such scruples. She' ll 'pick a piece' from anything and anywhere. She's the type that empties her plate into her napkin 'for the dog' in a restaurant, rather than ask for a 'doggy bag'. Me too! and I take saladdy bits and serviettes home for the compost. Waste not, want not |
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Post by Biggles on Aug 20, 2007 20:32:30 GMT
Goody-Goody I am in the right company-- and here I was thinking I was on my own. Have you also noticed that if you split a plant to give to someone who has asked --Their part of the plant usually thrives and the part you are left with doesn't-- Is this what they call "Sods Law"? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2007 20:33:56 GMT
Yup, MyAcer, I've noticed that 'Sod's Law' ... I must admit, I regard that derelict house, and another one on the canal a bit further away, as my own personal garden centre - and at least the babies are loved, even if the parents are neglected ;D ... cheers ...
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The thing that amazes me is what can come from a tiny seed, some so small they are almost dust!!!! 
BTW will have plenty yellow crocosmia bulbils if you want some (they grow like weeds anywhere) PM me if you want some.
