I will bow to “majority rules,” but I remember my mother writing letters to family members and friends, and I remember getting letters from family members. Real letters, sent through the mail. Maybe I am nostalgic, but I LOVE to get mail that is not a bill or an advertisement. It seems I was wrong in my assumption that people who have the time and interest in gardening would be the same and would like to get a letter, but if the majority would not bother to answer, I can’t see wasting the postage.
Part of my problem with “stalking the gardener,” or even going to take a picture is that I live in a small town/rural area, and most of the houses with the flowers I like are pretty far away from my house. As in, I would have to drive a mile or two away from home, then park and watch the house for activity. I’d rather mail a letter than have to go on a stake-out!! For example, the most beautiful landscaping I have seen is 15 miles away from home! :eek:
You guys were right about many things.
I went to a yard sale at one of the houses with the pretty flowers, and started talking with the woman running it, and she was great. She didn’t know the names of the flowers, but she did not mind my taking pictures, and yes, she dug some out for me!
I admired all her flowers, then said, “What are the names of these two? They’re the only ones I don’t know.” She laughed and said, “Me neither!” She had seen them on the side of the road, and liked them, so she dug some up!! She told me she just called them her “stolen treasures.”
I asked if I could take pictures, and said I might be able to find out the names online, and she asked me to come back and let her know! While we were talking, another woman at the yard sale overheard us and identified one of the flowers as St. John’s Wort. I came home and looked them up online, and they are not. :smack:
Oh, getting letters from someone you know and love is great. Getting them from someone you haven’t met, but who’s been scoping out your garden, is on the creepy side.
Not that you’re creepy. You’re clearly not, at all, and that’s why we don’t want you to come off as that inadvertently.
Most gardeners are pretty happy to share information about their plants. Many are even happy to share plants. Even better than knocking on the door is stopping when you see someone planting or weeding otherwise tending the garden. It’s such a natural thing to say, “I love you garden! And what are those over there? Where did you get them?” You could wind up going home with some of whatever it is.
As a gardener, I’d say knock on the door and ask them. Not only will they most likely be able to tell you what it is, they’ll probably share how it grow best and then give you a piece of it.
This seems to be some variety of Liguster. “The berries are poisonous to humans but readily eaten by thrushes, which disperse the seeds in their droppings”. However, birds seem not to be too keen on them, since the berries stay on the shrub all winter, while more palatable foodstuff disappears from the garden much more quickly
Unless you’re dressed like a Jehovah’s Witness, in which case a screaming homeowner could leap out at you with a sword.
If I’m out in the yard, I’ll readily talk to any passerby who wants to discuss gardening, and I’d probably dig up a seedling for you or share a cutting. The odds that I’ll open my door to a random stranger are low.
I had some plumeria blooming near my front porch last year. I came home to find a note taped to my door, “These flowers are so beautiful. Please call me and tell me what they are called.” The person left a phone number.
While I’m sure that was just some gardener person, I found it a bit creepy and did not call. Because I didn’t know if the person on the other end was going to become all whacko on me and become my new BFF and bother me constantly with gardening questions or what. Also, she (assuming it’s a she) cannot get that plant in this area – I smuggled cuttings home from Texas and bring the plants inside every winter. It’s not even something that normally grows here (without taking a bit of extra care), so the only way she’d be able to get one for her yard would be to get me to give her a cutting.
Anyway, creepy. Unless that person is standing outside and you happen to be walking by and strike up a conversation.
