There are two kinds of gardener.
There is the kind of gardener who looks at all the Nicotiana that self-seeded around her garden and thinks how nice it is to have all the lovely flowers come up and she didn’t have to do anything except let them grow.
Then there is the other kind of gardener who looks at all those flowers that self-sowed all over the place and decides she should pull them all out because she thinks it looks like a bit of a mess. (Don’t be that kind of gardener.)
There is the kind of gardener who admires how big her fig has gotten over the years—without having to do much to it to get it to successfully overwinter—and doesn’t mind one bit that it completely blocks the garden paths on both sides of it.
Then there is the other kind of gardener who doesn’t like how big the fig has become. (I suspect no gardener in Zone 6 who has a fig that grows up from the roots each spring and gets that big is much of a gardener if they complain about it.)
There is the kind of gardener who becomes obsessed with a particular genus of plants and judges every garden space by whether or not it is a suitable location to add yet another plant of her beloved genus.
Then there is the kind of gardener who doesn’t quite understand how someone could become that obsessed with Viola or any other genus of plants. (Let those who have not done so, keep their thoughts to themselves.)
Which kind of gardener are you?
Funny how our posts crossed. Great minds and all that.
Yes, great minds. Though your post had so much good information in it. Readers should check it out: https://reddirtramblings.com/im-a-generalist-gardener/ and then of course, listen to our podcast, The Gardenangelists!
I am the one with the fig! And volunteers all over the place, that’s the fun of gardening. I am curious about your fig. I am plant sitting my daughters for probably forever, and I thought you had to bring it in each fall. Quite an endeavor as it is a 17″ pot and is about 3′ tall. I am zone 5b, central New York and curious as to whether I can plant it directly in the ground with a good layer of mulch over it in the winter. Your’s dies back every year and comes up new? What are your thoughts?
Patti, it all depends on the fig variety. The one in the picture is ‘Brown Turkey’. The other one I have is ‘Chicago Hardy’. I am in Zone 6a. Neither is in a particularly sheltered location in the vegetable garden. In the fall, I mound up the base with leaves and hope for the best. Then in the spring, I cut back the stems from the previous year (which are dead) and it comes back from the roots. In the fall, I usually get ripe fruit from ‘Brown Turkey’ and rarely get ripe fruit from ‘Chicago Hardy’. Plus the fruit on ‘Brown Turkey’ is bigger. Anyway, long answer to your question but if you knew the variety… it might work in the ground! (My sister also has a fig that she treats the same way. She doesn’t know the variety, though.)
That was too easy. I’m definitely the self seeded gardener.
Jenny, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting your garden twice! I agree!
Yes, I’m that kind of gardener. But which kind depends on the day of the week and my mood. I love self-sown seedlings but I will move something that is too successful and blocks the pathways. I love delving deep into one kind of plant but usually come to my senses in 6 months and try to refocus in the big picture. That’s one of the many joys of gardening, that there’s no one to make us follow their rules.
I suspect that I am the kind of gardener of which you would approve. My gardening assistant is always wishing that gardens were forever neat, tidy, and orderly, but I’ve tried to explain that it’s not how gardens work. I’m married to my gardening assistant, so occasionally I try to make him happy.