Garden Mistakes Or Genius At Work?
 (Read 50+ times)
By Glory Lennon
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Here I was, freshly returned from a glorious vacation to a warm, tropical island when what should I find upon my return, not surprisingly, snow and lots of it piled up everywhere. It was January and in these parts it’s to be expected. But besides that I also found not one, not two but six, count them, six seed catalogues in my massively piled up mail which was kindly watched over by the lovely people at the Greentown Post Office and a few days later I received another three.
What this says is that it is that time of year again in which we must do some soul-searching, assess damage and vow to learn from our mistakes. No, I'm not talking about stupid New Year's resolutions. We, all of us, know that we should workout more, eat less, be nicer and improve society so what's writing it all down supposed to prove? That you're actually considering doing it this time? Thanks, I really needed the laugh. But I digress, sorry.
My point is the time has come for us to think of what we did wrong in the past growing season, how to improve on that knowledge, and figure out how best to mess up anew in the rapidly approaching ( I can dream, can't I?) growing season. Yes, you heard me correctly or rather you read it. I said mess up. Anyone can be perfect but it takes real genius to mess up so completely that something great can come from it.
Case in point: Dupont and the miracle of clear plastic. Do you actually think that invention, discovery or whatever it was came about by a lonely geek pondering equations that would even baffle Einstein? No! It was a beaker left out one night and something from a shelf above spilled into it totally by accident. It could have been providence or it could have been a mouse. No one is completely certain but come the next morning there it was, a hard, durable clear plastic which made Dupont even richer than before and revolutionized the world as we know it. It may have been an accident but a good one that's for sure.
Another example: Did you know that Ivory soap, so pure it floats, was created by some dummy, oops, I mean genius, who forgot to turn off the mixer overnight? Well, in the morning they found this ultra-airy stuff that became the best darn soap known to man. Just about here would be a good time for the folks at Ivory to send me a check for the free advertisement. I also accept Paypal payments, thank you so much. I seems I just digressed again, didn't I? Sorry.
Back to the topic at hand: mistakes. Boy, have I made a bunch of those and not just in the garden. You can ask my hubby, Tommy, when he’s trying to balance that mess we call a checkbook. But we are talking of garden mistakes so let’s stick to it, if you please.
One time I made the “mistake” of planting a bit of Lysmachia Nummularia (better known as Pennywort, Moneywort or Creeping Jenny) in my yellow flower bed only to have it spread like the flu in kindergarten class. It took over the entire bed. But then I realized that it was also suppressing weeds very effectively. So you tell me, was it a mistake? Well, Jenny's still there, isn't she?
Another time my husband asked me to remove a tree peony from its home.
“You gotta move it or it’s going to get run over with the wheelbarrow when I’m trying to put it away,” he said to me.
I did indeed transplant it though unknowingly on top of a herbaceous peony. The next spring I found the tree peony growing nicely although I couldn't figure out why it had two distinctly different sets of leaves and when it bloomed there were two different color blossoms seemingly on one plant. But what was really cool was that the tree peony held up the heavy flowers of the other peony. The sturdy branches of the tree peony made instant staking. A mistake? I think not! I told you I was a gardening genius. You just didn't believe me.
I wonder if I could convince Tommy that all those mistakes I make with the checkbook are my genius at work? It'd be a hard sell. Oh, but I digress again. Do forgive.
Now, I've told you some of my garden mistakes which turned out to be not so bad and some actually good. I’m certain you have some “mistakes” that now when seen in a different light ain’t so bad after all. So, tell me of your gardening blunders unless you’re holding out for someone to put them on TV for your fifteen minutes of fame. If all goes well I’ll have a good laugh. It gets so very dreary in winter and there’s only so many times I can look through those seed catalogues without sending the checkbook into turmoil again. Don’t tell Tommy!
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 For more amazing garden facts, a glimpse at an unfinished novel and amusing short stories come visit me at http://www.helium.com/user/32782
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