Only Grow What You Know?

Is it good advice for gardeners to only grow the plants they know?

Heavens, no. That’s not good advice at all.

It’s good advice to tell gardeners to know the plants they are growing.

Otherwise, gardening would be boring, like eating the same foods every day and never trying something new. Or trying one thing new and then sticking with that one dish without thinking about other new foods.

I do that sometimes when it comes to restaurants and food. I go to a new restaurant, pick something off the menu, decide I like it, and then thereafter when I go to that restaurant again, I am tempted to order that same dish. I must remind myself to look over the menu for something else new to try. Of course, before I order that new item, I ask a few questions, especially if there are words in the description I don’t understand.

Gardening is like that.

Sometimes we discover one new plant and stick with that new plant and grow it over and over again.

No, I am not referring to my beloved violas and pansies, pictured above from last spring.

The analogy for my violas and pansies is sometimes we discover a food we really like and so whenever we see it on the menu at any restaurant, we have to try it because it might be better than we’ve ever eaten before. It becomes our signature dish. Oh, they have eggplant parmesan on the menu? I’ll have that, please, as it might be the best eggplant parmesan ever and I wouldn’t want to miss it.

Oh, that looks like a new viola or pansy. I’ll plant that. It might be better than the other violas and pansies I’ve grown.

Think about that as the seed catalogs start arriving. New is often good—even better—than what you thought you’d always grow forever and forever. Read those descriptions, look for something new.

But do enough research so you know what you are growing.

And don’t be alarmed if one particular plant strikes your fancy, and you want to grow all the different types of it every time you see one.

Guest Here and There

In other news, I was recently a guest on the podcast Cottage in the Court with Teri Speight. Click on that link and listen to us enjoy a few minutes of gardening talk and laughter and discussion about my latest book Digging and Delighted.

Then this Saturday, Dec. 4, tune in to WXTK radio at 8:00 am when I’m going to be the guest of The Garden Lady, C.L. Fornari. More fun book talk and I think there’s a giveaway involved! (Click on the radio link to listen on the Internet.)

And while you’re in a listening mood (I assume!), don’t miss the latest episode of The Gardenangelists! We called this one “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire.