mm..not sure if the qualifies...my husband and I built a shade house out of discarded pallets in the middle of a strip flower bed, complete with a potting bench..

Start another new garden bed. It is a lot of work to dig out all the grass and weeds, and I had a large area already in plants. what can I say?
kay

Moved a plant about 4 inches over!

Bought some new roses, couple for the garden room and some for a bed on the other side of the house. Planted the ones in the garden room. Didn't get to the other ones right away. The other ones bloomed and I decided I liked them better for the garden room. Dug up the ones I had just planted several days before in the garden room and moved them to the other bed! Nothing like doing it twice!

Well, not in the garden, but for the garden.

I spied some BEAUTIFUL wildflowers on a country road. Had no shovel with me, but I found a sturdy stick in the grader ditch and climbed a rocky bank and dug up some yellow prairie coneflowers (Ratibida). Then got back in the car, drove about 100 feet and spotted some deep orange butterfly weeds (Asclepias tuberosa) . Hold er Nute! Got out and dug up one of those. I also spotted Gay Feather Liatris (Liatris spicata) growing right there, so got some of those plants. Put them in the car and on the other side of the road I spied some False Blue Indigo plants (Baptesia australis) and more Liatris. Got some of each. Found a WalMart bag in the back seat and bagged them all up with some of that rocky red clayish soil. Someone drove by about the time my rear end was sticking straight up in the air, digging up "weeds" with a STICK! I bet they gotta laugh at that crazy redhead.
Undaunted, I climbed back in my car and was about to head home, when I spotted yet another wildflower. I don't know what they are, but I dug up three plants of it. It's a small, 8 inch tall, branching, shrubby little plant with tiny phlox-like white flowers and tiny, narrow leaves. It looks to be a prairie variety of Pycnanthemum virginianum (Virginia Mountain Mint), but I'll have to look that one up in my wildlife book. Feeling triumphant, I continued on my way HOME and about a mile further down the road I spotted a small, blooming Tamarisk tree growing out of the side of the grader ditch. Oh boy! I gotta try to get that one (I can blame that one on Flora's garden wall photos). (wink)

I will be going back tomorrow with several 5-gallon buckets, a jug of water, and a shovel to get more of that soil and a few more plants!

I made out like a thief! I guess driving more than 20 miles with that much obsession over flowers would seem pretty crazy to some people.

~Annie

A2, I did the same thing! After days of looking at my plant, I knew it was in the wrong place so I moved it about 4 inches over! And the strange thing is, my husband noticed it! lol

Yup same here..moved a lantana just inches from where it was. lol

Annie, you are so lucky to find so many wildflowers growing by the roadside. Even braver for getting out and digging them all up with a stick! lol That is too funny! But hey they're free and you can't beat that with a stick! lol
~Meghan

first I planted some roses in larger pots because I thought that was right... and then I changed my mind and planted two of them in my front yard a week later.
then the next morning I realized that I'd misread one of the tags and put one rose in the wrong place, so then I had to trade two of them.

I also drove up to the side of the road, walked up a hill and got some wild lupine seeds. Not sure if I'm going to plant them or not.

the end! not too crazy!

Are you allowed to dig up your wild plants? They are all protected here and you have to have permission of the landowner to disturb them. It does seem a pity to take them and deprive others of the sight.

It makes me sad to read of people digging things up from the wild. For one thing, the property and everything on it belongs to someone.

I live next to a ravine, smack in the middle of the city. A neighborhood group has been at work for years to try and restore native plants and wildlife to the area. We continually have to deal with people digging up wildflowers, ferns, shrubs, etc.

I have caught two people and both times they have protested that this is a natural area with wild plants and no one owns it. They don't realize some people work hard to maintain natural areas for the benefit of all.

You made off like a thief, because you were a thief Annie.

It's one thing to gather a few seeds from wild plants - it's another to selfishly remove them and deprive others from enjoying the exisiting plants and the offspring that would have come from them. Not to mention depriving wildlife of already scant resources to save yourself the cost of a seed packet or the bother of asking a neighbor or friend for a division.

I know it's not nice to come out of lurking to chastise others. I'm sure you meant no harm.

Perhaps I'm feeling cranky after discovering two holes yesterday near the ravine path where my neighbor and I had just planted red current and ocean spray bushes.

Someone no doubt thought these "wild" or "abandoned" beauties would be lovely in their yard.

Too bad for the rest of the community.

In our part of the country, there are a lot of areas that either edge the road and belong to the county/state, or along the railroad tracks and belongs to the railroad. Except for digging up trees, most people don't mind if someone grabs a wildflower/weed for their garden...most people around here don't know the difference :)

That being said, if you go onto someone's property, through their fence, then you'll probably have a problem...especially with all the farmland and pastures we have around here. Most people respect the property boundaries...except some of the hunters from town! Sheesh!

Along the county roads, the county sprays plant killer twice a summer to keep the roads from becoming overgrown, so it would really be "rescuing" the flowers if you dug them up in those areas...but I guess every area is different.

Sorry for getting off topic, but I want to respond to Flora's comment.
--------------------------
Flora,

There are no regulations in Oklahoma to my knowledge IF you are restoring a Native Wildlife Habitat. There are millions of wildflowers on the Prairies, and no one here cares if I dig them up. To the farmers, ranchers & dairymen, they are just WEEDS! That's why the passersby were laughing at me.

There are of course, some progressive thinkers in the state who enjoy the wildflowers and I even had a farmer/rancher neighbor once who loved the spring wildflowers. We used to meet at the fence and "jaw" about them, but he was the exception around here. Many people here of late have taken to not mowing the wildflowers off their driveway or roadfront properties until the flowers have gone to seed, but there are miles and miles of open prairie lands and no one gives a rat's a** if you "rescue" some old weedy flowers.

I am trying to restore my 1-1/2 acre meadow up on the hill with Native wildflowers. I have the prairie grasses that are invaluable for the project. No farmer has ever killed them out up there, thank goodness, but it is pretty devoid of flowers. I have a wetlands area and dry rocky area and then the prairie grass areas. On the south side is a little wooded area, so there are the transitional plants and the deep, moist woods plants, like native Maidenhair Ferns, Grapes, Bittersweet vines, Trillium, but not much else. I am just trying to restore this land in those areas to the way it used to be before the Whiteman came here.

This is part of the Iowa Nation lands (Iowa is pronounced, "I -oh-way"). The tribal headquarters is not far from here. Tribal lands have been restored to their natural prairie habitat around the headquarters. There are gorgeous wildflowers and we even have Bison herds (buffalo), thanks to the donations from the Dakota tribes in Nebraska.

Also, the Okla. state wildlife people encourage land owners, large or small, to develop or restore Wildlife Habitats. That is what I am doing. You can even apply for free trees and other plants, depending upon your region. They will help you build ponds and establish wild fruit trees and shrubs for your wildlife habitat.
They encourage the building of bluebird houses and bat houses. They encourage planting flowers for butterflies and hummingbirds.

Wild turkeys come through here in the fall and there are deer and rabbits, skunks, 'possums, ferrets, coyotes, raccoons, quail, bobcats, owls, hawks, egrets, Inland Terns, Canadian Geese, falcons, armadillos and occasionally I see a lynx or a pheasant. Lots of songbirds. Of course there are lizards, frogs, toads, turtles, snakes and rodents. There are beavers in other areas, but not on my land since I haven't any running creeks, so they do not come here. They all have their place in this world. I don't see all of these creatures everyday, mind you, but they are around and when I do see them, it is a wonderful sight.

So, my collecting native plants is allowed for my Native project, even if it were illegal for the general public (which it isn't).

I am not taking anything away from anyone. I am trying to keep them from becoming extinct!

~Annie
aka "sagewood spirit"

Well you're not really rescuing them if they are thriving enough to set seed and make new plants.

Public/county/state land belongs to everyone. We have no idea the people who walk or drive by a stand of trees or flowers and enjoy their beauty.

I don't think we should assume no one else appreciates or enjoys these wild growing things. You might be surprised how many people might derive pleasure from seeing them in their natural setting.

Again -- why not just take seeds. Why take the whole plant or tree?

I planted my biggest healthiest peony in shade for lack of a better place for it. Needless to say it is not faring well. I'll be moving it shortly!

We also have community/government groups that share free or reduced-priced trees/plants to help restore native areas. Which is what we are doing in the ravine.

They share free plants to discourage people from digging them up from the wild. To me, you're not restoring an area if it involves depleting another one.

You imply these are weeds or so common no one cares about them, yet they were enough of an unusual sight to have you stop your car and get them, with plans to go back for the tree.

I think what people also forget is that it's not just about the plant - it's about the habitat the plant creates for other creatures.

Annie - you also noted digging up plants which you were unable to identify. Therefore you have no idea whether or not they are protected species for which you would require a permit.

I was also surprised to hear anyone is digging up plants in a natural setting for their own garden. Obviously, Annie, you must not have considered it wrong or you wouldn't have posted that you had done it. We all do things without thinking sometimes and don't always take the time to look into things to make sure something is okay.

I'm sure it is uncomfortable for everyone for there to be confrontation on the forum but really sometimes it is unavoidable. I think Flora and Kaille were correct to point out that this is really not what any of us should be doing as gardeners. I found a link to reference what the regulations are as far as taking plants for your own use. In the link below, put out by the US Forest Service, it is reported that they are experiencing an increase in what they call 'poaching'. I'll leave you all to read it yourselves....

I have made a point of adding native plants to my garden, and I thought it was commonly understood, that buying natives should be from a reputable company that was not 'poaching' natives and selling them to the public, but was raising them from seed. If that is true for companies, then it only stands to reason that it has to be true for all of us.

I found myself thinking the other day about gardeners in general. I used to hear that gardeners were 'special' ... kinder and more generous and I think I used to believe it on face value alone. But as time goes by, I have realized that gardeners are the same as everyone else. No better nor worse. I think we do have a special responsibility though to care about the natural world and hopefully to all see ourselves as 'stewards'.

I think this subject is at the heart of that idea. Something I hope we will all remind each other of whenever necessary.

Here is a link that might be useful: Celebrating Wildflowers - Ethics and Native Plants

Reread what I posted and get a grip.
I didn't steal anything. I rescued a few plants from the grader's blade along a grader ditch. They spray with defoliants and grade along the ditches. This is not city property nor are there white people developments out here within 50 miles or more.
It wasn't MY PEOPLE who screwed up the earth and raped it for everything they could get out it. Take a look at what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico. That is an example of what white people do to our mother. Isn't that just fantastic. Great stewardship ability.

This is Indian Territory and these are Tribal lands, so back off this one. We sure as h*ll don't need you people telling us how to take care of the land.
------------------------------------------------
Nuff said.

It wasn't MY PEOPLE who screwed up the earth and raped it for everything they could get out it. Take a look at what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico. That is an example of what white people do to our mother. Isn't that just fantastic. Great stewardship ability.

Annie, that's not fair.

Annie, I really wish you had not played that card. I am a native status-card carrying Canadian (StlÅ Nation) but that is not relevant to the discussion at hand.

I'm not sure how native land ownership works in the US. Band members share ownership of Stó:lŠland, but still I would not think of taking plants from band land to enrich my own private garden. And if I were taking from another band's land, I would require permission the same as anyone else.

None of us can turn back the hands of time and undo the injustices perpetrated on and by our ancestors. We can only be stewards of the earth today in the best way we know how.

If we can help nature thrive by gathering native seeds, sharing with friends and fellow gardeners, or buying from reputable growers, surely this is preferable than digging them up from the wild.

All the more reason to leave something of mother nature in a ditch scarred by man's activities.

I'm sorry to create conflict, but this is something I feel very strongly about. I spend hundreds of hours a year alongside friends, neighbors and community members to restore native areas for the enjoyment of all.

We have a meagre budget and each year we lose roughly 25-30% of our plantings to people digging them up for removal to their own gardens.

wow, this is the first confrontation i've seen on the cottage garden forum. People, don't write stuff you wouldn't have the guts to say to someone's face. cyber- confrontation is kind of ugly.

Anyway, back on topic...

The craziest thing I did was dig up more grass and plant morning glory along my chain link fence. Crazy because the fence is about 4.5 feet tall and these things could get to be 15-20 feet long. We'll see. :)

There are so many political forums on the web. Can we please keep this one place free of politics, and stick to our common love of gardening?

Renee

So, I don't do a lot of veggie gardening. I saw these cute teeny-tiny sugar snap pea plants and bought them. I have window boxes on my porch railings that I plant up with different kinds of lettuce. Well, I had a spare one so I planted the peas in the window box and put up a make-shift trellis (only about 18" tall). As I was doing it I knew I was completely off-base and would have to replant these silly pea plants so that they could climb higher and higher. For some reason I just kept doing what I was doing even though I knew it was against my better judgement! I'm sure it will probably be this weekend that I move them. Trouble is, I don't know where I'm moving them to!!

I am ashamed of what happened here...everyone involved should be also..but somehow I dont think they will be..

The electronic age..nameless..impersonal attacks....no feeling, just people strutting their stuff, flexing their invisable muscles behind typed words. Differences can and should be settled without name calling and internet bullying, no matter what side of the disagreement your on..that is the adult mature way to do it...not bullying and name calling, both sides played that ugly card...I no longer care who is right or wrong, take your name calling and backstabbing to your personal email.........I am sad and ashamed at the lack of respect for fellow humans here..It makes me sick to my stomach..as far as I am concerned..that is the biggest wrong here. I am asking everyone, for the sake of your fellow human, and your fellow gardeners to stop here..stop replying and let fall to the bottom until those involved cool down and get a grip. It feels like the rest of us are standing in a circle around kicking and screaming teens rolling around on the ground.. screaming get em, hit em, yea, kick em, aND Celebrating when a punch or kick connects.....and that makes me sickened...

I am sorry.
I felt picked on and attacked.

I tried to not react, but the attacks kept coming and coming and I got upset and reacted.

I AM TRULY SORRY.

~Annie

honnat, Renee and keesha, I don't know who you are addressing and I find what you've had to say just throwing accelerant on a conversation that seemed to have stopped dead in it's tracks.

keesha, if you have said something that you are ashamed of, fine, but it sounds like you are actually pointing the finger at someone who you feel has said something to be ashamed of. Since there were 16 people who have posted to this thread, you've left all to wonder who you are talking about.

Your 'description' of what happened has more name calling in it, than anything I've read posted to this thread so far. You've pretty much called people bullies, backstabbers, without feeling who have said things that have turned your stomach.

Yes, by all means, let's all go back to talking about how pretty our gardens are....after everything that has been said here.

Sweet cheeses.

"The craziest thing you have done...this spring?"

This would have to be it!
This is so sick.

I'm heading out to my garden and going up to the meadow to set out my wildflowers.

Have a good one...whatever you do!

Peace.
~Annie

You guys are going to get my thread deleted...not that it's a big deal since we're now so off topic. I'm going to start another one, so please let this one die a quick death. Thank you :)

Goodness me, I seem to have unintentionally stirred up a hornet's nest. I was merely asking a question out of curiosity and making an observation. I was not insulting anyone. I live on a small island where the native flora has been devastated over the years by collecting, intensive farming and development. Many of our native species are lost forever. Our remaining few native Cypripedium orchids actually have 24 hour guard on them now. So that is the perspective I am coming from. I had no intention of provoking anyone and I find the strength of some of these responses truly astonishing.

The End.

I'm not here to stir the pot any, but I did want to clairfy how it is in Oklahoma since I'm a fellow Oklahoman who lives in the country on a dirt road.

The flowers to which Annie speaks of live right on the edge of the dirt road. The ditches to the road belongs to the County. If we grow our own wildflower garden there, the County can come mow it down and we have no say.

Anyway, the road graders come out every so often and grade every last bit of the wildflowers. So it's "get them while you can!" lol. It's not being a "thief", it IS actually saving the plant because it's seeds will blow in the Oklahoma wind and come up somewhere else.

And there are a lot of times when the grader grades the flowers and they don't come up anymore. :( So really, it's okay here to transplant some to your garden.

Being in the country on a dirt road there is nobody who walks or drives out here to look at the flowers. They're everywhere and are a nusance (sp) to many farmers. Some are even outlawed here and farmers will be hit with a big fine if they're caught not controlling the flowers on their property.

So, that's an explanation of how things work in the country in Oklahoma. I'm sure every state and country is different, but Annie isn't taking up any endangered species. If she were, we would know if the plant was endangered or not.

Forgot the most important part! These "flowers" are considered to be weeds.

It's not like being in Texas where those beautiful Blue Bonnets are everywhere! Now if Annie got in a field and dug up flowers like those, I'd have to come spank her. lol

And some of those beautiful flowers give you flat tires if you drive on them, so we've been having to dodge them until the grader comes and takes them out.

Sorry about your thread op. I dont think the people picked or attacked you but people are passionate about plants. It was nice of a local Okla. person to pipe up to try and clarify the situation that you found the plants in. It didnt sound like a area that was going to be spayed or regraded if there was that diverse of variety. A few years ago driving down a logging road I saw the most beautiful white and red wild columbine all by its lonesome with other wild flowers but only the one columbine. We got lost and was driving back by an hour later to find two women digging it up. You mentioned going back with 5 gallon pails. So I think people wanted to make sure you knew what effect things like that can have. Lots if people are naive to things like that and I think the other posters where shocked like I was, most places around where I live ditch or not plants 'weeds' or not are left for all to enjoy. I did find another one of those columbines on a lake beach last year which just has ripe seeds which I took some of but still scattered a few incase the plant didnt make it. If there was alot of these plants and you had the right kind of garden to transplant them into and wernt taking away the chance of a plant to naturalize in a area. I would think it would be ok.

Hate to cause any nightmares or freak anyone out, but in Alabama anyone "stealing" wildflowers along the side of a state road, is just as likely to be preventing death by herbicide. Yep. Every so often you drive along what once was a nice little drive and all along the roadside is dead and dying vegetation. Of course two weeks later, it is lush and green again as long as we aren't in a deep,deep drought state.

Of course in Alabama, you can almost see the kudzu grow on the roadside, not to mention the mimosa trees. They grow like the hair on a dogs back, all along the interstates, And Privet hedge. I am not a fan of privet hedge and hate that it was ever introduced here, but the birds love it and plant it freely. And good luck to you if you don't get the little bushes out very young. It will be there.

I suspect that the people in Oklahoma might know a little more about the vegetation in that state, and what is legal to dig or what is endangered there than than I would. But I can surely tell you about Alabama.

kay

I've done something really crazy in my garden this year, I sat in the cool shade surrounded by lilies, snapdragons, roses, coreopsis, hollyhocks and pflox and prayed. I asked God to bring peace to the hearts that were hurt and offended here. I like the cottage forum because of all the funny, friendly and helpful people who post here. So lets be real gardeners and plant seeds of kindness. Cheryl

I thought this link might be helpful to anyone, besides myself, who had lingering thoughts and questions from this thread.

There is a lot of information here that will help anyone who is interested in pure restoration, preventing noxious weeds and many, many other things. It's a fantastic knowledge base.

Happy gardening to everyone,
MeMo

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Plant Database

aww nice post seamommy. and org kitten I dont even want to tell you what I paid for a little tiny mimosa tree up here in canada eek but I love them!

Daislander,
You woudn't love mimosa trees if they grew like they do here. Turn your back and you have another one! They are almost impossible to get rid of when they grow (snd they will) where you don't want them to grow. Even a small tree has a taproot that goes halfway to China.

Generally, either a truck or a tractor has to be hooked around the tree and it has to be pulled up by brute force. Don't even think about using Round up...these trees laugh at Round up.

One of them planted itself (with a birds help, no doubt...professional planters these birds) smack in the middle of my flower bed. The silly thing was sneaky and grew to a nice size. I cut it off, got a drill, and drilled a couple of holes in it then poured stump rot in the holes. It worked. I still don't believe it, but it actually killed the unkillable tree

And yes, they are lovely trees...or would be if you had only one. You never do, not here. There's one growing in the middle of the chain link fence (my neighbors fence). Somehow, it has to go or there will be a grove of them.

They are currently blooming their nice pink, fluffy blooms all along the interstate. They grow almost as quickly as the kudzu vine.

But I hope you enjoy your tree. They are very pretty.
kay

lol well im a little worried now. Now this also reminded me with a conversation I got in with someone last year as they said they had a mimosa tree and I said as yes a acacia tree, they said no... Now there seems to be 1000 species of this tree. This is the one I have http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/United_States/South/North_Carolina/Raleigh/photo907271.htm but there seems to be a yellow one as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia I was a little worried id kill the tree by doing some hard pruning but after your post I think I might try it! I have a gravel underneith the tree which you think would be the perfect place for those seed to sprout as I have lavender and lambears everywhere but when I think about it I dont remeber seeing an seed pods. Mabey this is a sterile variety... I think our winters are colder here which kills alot of these trees off I think ive only seen 3 in my city of 300,000 people.

I checked the picture. That's the monster! The lovely little pink puffs. I thought about your purchase driving home from the doctor today when I saw all of the mimosa trees. There are two across the street from me on city property. Can't touch those. The one on the fence line will be history. But they spring up everywhere.

It would be bad if something you really wanted turned out to be "more than you ever wanted". They do here. And they grow fast, too.
kay

Don't mean to start something again, but in defense of Annie, most of you don't live in the country in Oklahoma or Texas. We don't live in Massachusetts or the UK or New York and no, we don't mess with Bluebonnets, but it's exactly what she said, in the country the road graders just mow down what is on the sides of the county roads, they consider the plants to be a pest. You are talking hundreds and hundreds of miles of "weeds" as far as they are concerned.

I once ran out and stopped the mower from shearing all the chicory that was about to bloom on my side of the road! It can take over and I know they have to keep ditches cleaned out, but it's so pretty. I usually mow this stretch myself anyway.