Thursday, March 18, 2010

Carjacking By A Lady Named Banks

Last year, while visiting dozens of houses, looking for the perfect one to buy, I happened upon so many lovely arbors, trellises and fences covered in white, pink or yellow blooms cascading all over the place.    They perched from atop thorny limbs woven into many a gate I tried to peer through, and they climbed up columns holding up centuries old double porches (piazzas in Charleston-speak).  They called softly to me from unseen gardens, their fragrance mixed with the humid air for hundreds of steps.   Ah, so rosey.

But I am a beginning gardener.  One with a love of many sun loving flowers and limited space in which to grow them.   A quick reading about basic rose care, and it was settled.  No thorny, mildewy, buggy, flower wilting, fertilizer sucking temperamental roses for me.  Nope, I don't love them that much. 

Then something happened today when I stopped by to get some potting soil to fill up my two monster patio pots.  This Lady Banks Rose ended up in my passenger side car seat.  I swear I didn't put her there.  She tried to hide herself under my jacket, and frankly I wouldn't have even noticed her there except in an effort to make it safely home she put her seatbelt on, and well, I was suspicious.  My jacket is one of those wild children - never uses his seatbelt.

So her cover blown, she pulled out a water pistol and said "Drive, or you'll have root rot where the sun don't shine." I'm sure you all can imagine my utter shock.  At the next light, I nervously glanced around elsewhere in the car to see if any other secret passengers were about.  Sure enough, an entire bag of caladium bulbs were hiding on the floorboard!   The outrageous audacity of some plants, right?

For all of you who are now a bit concerned for me, no worries, I made it home totally dry, albeit with a new found understanding of the southern magazine, "Garden & Gun."

12 comments:

  1. Here's hoping that you come to terms with your carjacker and that she flourishes in your garden!

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  2. Wow, those Southern roses are fiesty, hope you weren't hurt.

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  3. Woohoo! Roses! You need roses. Really you do.

    I don't pamper my roses, and they grow just fine. Admittedly, I'm not in the South, but I'm confident that the right roses would be just fine there. And judging by the Vintage Gardens page on Banksia roses, it sounds like they might be the right kind.

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  4. I think Lady Banks should be all right :D She grows everywhere here in coastal NC just fine (zone 8a). If a hybrid tea rose had carjacked you, then I would be a little more worried for your health!

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  5. Just wait 'til she tells her friends you're a pushover and brings her mates over :D

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  6. Those wily plants~they are so clever and always manage to find their way to my garden when I surely didn't mean to get them! gail ps what a really fun read!

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  7. I had a lemon tree holding me up in the car the other day and caladiums hiding on the floorboard, too. Those sneaky things! LOL
    I bet you will love your Lady Banks rose! I was told not to plant my caladium bulbs until May...seems like a long time to wait :/

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  8. Caladiums like it HOT! We plant them in May, here in hot old Texas! Well, this year, it may be July or so, the way it is going.

    Did you get any specifics on that Lady Banks rose? Like how big does she get and what color is she?

    I have a white and a yellow, planted as one plant, and 'she' is beautiful when she blooms! I have people stopping to ask "What IS that rose, anyway?" But they are very large roses, probably at least 12'-15' tall and 20' wide. Never cut them in early spring, you cut all the blooms off. Mine don't get cut back all that often, maybe that has something to do with the size.

    Be careful, there are lots of 'plant jackers' out there! Pineapple sage and assorted herbs got me the other day; and I was not bringing them home because I KNEW we were going to have a freeze this weekend! They barged right into the house when we got here, setting on the kitchen table until they can go outside.

    I took it as a sign that I didn't need to cook...

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  9. Kyna, Penelope, Gippy, Gail,CF, kilbourne: this will be my last rose carjacking for sure. I hope :). Thanks as always for visiting, I absolutely love getting comments.

    Amy - I've been told late April, but its still a wait. They are just hanging out in the closet til then. Which is okay, seeing as I've done nothing yet to the front bed anyway. Its got about 1000 wild onions in it.

    Janie - Thanks so much for the advice. I do realize how big they get, and I have 20 feet of a 6 foot fence it can cover if it likes plus a tree it can also go up... I am going to trim it I'm sure to keep it from bushing out too much horizontally primarily, and will never in early spring thanks to you. And it can fight with the star jasmine on that fence. Let the best plant win.

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  10. Hey, that will continue to be a normal incident in life whenever there are plants nearby to relocate. Funny post. There are many more wonderful southern roses to choose for sure!!!

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  11. Somehow plants are always ending up hitching a ride home with me. I'll go to the nursery to get niger seed for the finches and when I get home, there are ten plants in the back of my car! I'm not sure how that happens. Anyway, your lady Banks should be wonderful. It's a classic.

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  12. Lady B. will hijack your home eventually. A car simply isn't big enough for her.

    Great blog!

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