At Least They Weren't Toadstools

Though I've not yet made a purchase from Annie's Annuals, I enjoy receiving their catalogs and their regular e-mails. The one I got today amused me so much, I just had to share it:

You know how you get those sticky burs caught on your sweater when gardening or hiking? Well, I get A LOT of them and it takes a really long time to get them off of my wooly sweaters, so I just keep wearing them, burs and all. But, last week I decided to wash this blue sweater of mine with all the burs still on it, hoping some of them would fall off in the wash. Yes, I admit I am domestically impaired! I was in a rush when I took the sweater out of the washer and just threw it on the laundry table for a few days. When I checked back in on my sweater it was none too happy with me and its moldy smell was ummm, you know, prominent. So I washed it again and this time hung it up to dry in my dark garage.

Several hours later I went back into the garage, turned on the lights and whoa! There were little wiggly whitish looking things all over it! Upon closer inspection, I could see that those pesky burs, which are actually seeds, had sprouted all over my sweater. What a sight! I had never heard of such a thing.

Now the best part of the story is that these particular little burs had come from a plant called Cynoglossum amabile, the seed of which we often have lots of trouble getting to germinate in our greenhouse here at the nursery. I related this curious event to Anni Jensen, our head propagator. And in a very Anni type gesture, she put a thoughtful finger to her cheek and with a sparkle in her eye said, "Hmmm, I will have to think about that!"

I've had that happen when I inadvertently left a plastic bag with seeds in the pocket of my jeans and put them through the wash. A couple of days after I removed the wet packet and laid it on the dryer, I had sprouts in that bag, but this sweater thing just made me giggle.

And that, in turn, reminded me of a story that our older daughter Kara had told several years ago. She was in college and dating a young man who shared a rental house with several other guys. I don't have to tell you about the housekeeping habits of a bunch of college guys, do I?

Well, she was visiting John and needed to use the restroom. It was carpeted. You're starting to picture this, aren't you? A bunch of college guys with a carpeted bathroom. While we can imagine the condition and cleanliness that might be present, Kara was still shocked when she sat down and her gaze fell upon toadstools sprouting from the carpet in front of her. I think she said that was the last time she ever used the bathroom there.

Plants want to grow. Unless we want them to, of course.