LOL. What a cute story!!

My husband isn't big on the plants either. If a plant gets a yellow leaf he swears I'm killing it. Smh. I think my plants have grew on him though because he always asks me if I want another one.

Good thing about being with non plant people is we don't have to worry about them watering them!!!

Jamila, that is so true. I would not want him to water my plants...I just need help lifting and then cleaning up on those days I make my yard look like a tornado went through it. (Repotting days, usually...lol.)

And....I just got a shiver through my spine, but if he gardened, then....omg he'd eat up what little space I have! No, no....completely unacceptable. One gardener per household is plenty. He can raise goldfish or something if he wantsa hobby. No, no.

Yup I agree only too for one plantie over here!!!

Goldfish ha ha!!! My hubby killed his fish so I told him just stick to the music LOL.

That was completely entertaining, gave me a huge smile! TY!

"And then as he's carrying the plant back in, he mumbles to them, "Don't
bother growing, little leaves...she's just gonna chop you off if you
grow."

Hahaha!

Every once in a while my wife will take it upon herself to cut the grass for me if I'm really pressed at work. A few times while cutting, she's knocked bonsai off the grow benches and out of the pot. Instead of telling me, she just stuffs it back in the pot and calls it good. A couple of times, plants I've been working for 10-15 years were killed or set back badly because they dried out because so much of the soil was knocked off the roots. Because she was trying to do me a favor, I can't get angry. I try to explain I'm not mad, just disappointed, but she still gets defensive and comes back with "They're only plants." When I try to explain they're more than plants, it's , "Ok - cut it (the grass) yourself next time. So I do. Itsa lose lose situation. She doesn't realize that a plant you've been nurturing for 15 years is more than just a plant and can't understand how anyone can be "that attached to a plant".

Al

It's probably good to get that off your chest. What about building a guardrail around benches? A row of paver stones, to move mowing away a bit more?

Funny story. I think my BF thinks plants and other green living things = more work and maintenance, kind of like his gigantic lawn. Glad I started with houseplants vs a lawn. I might feel the same way.

I'm a plant person, but not when it comes to mowing. Is this an appropriate time to chant, Kill that grass, kill that grass? If not, sorry, nevermind!

Green, puhahaha! My guy does that too. He will walk by a painting on the wall and one day, 15 years after I bought it and 5.5 years since he's seen it,, he asks if I bought a new painting. Me: "What the...what's wrong with you?" lol

Oh, Al...I feel your pain!

But dearest Al, come on --- "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed" is...the...worst thing to say! That means you're mad in femalese....because when we start any sentence with "I'm not mad," it's usually when we're blazing angry. LOL

its very kind of your wife to now, though. I could swim through a field of grass and will still not mow. I don't know how, and don't want to know. That's a man's job....so we hire someone to mow LOL. (I am with Tiffany; given a choice I'd kill it all off. Totally useless once your kids are past 5 years of age.)

Jamila, the sexiest man in the world is one who looks at you and says: "Want to go visit a nursery?" Heheh.

Grace, yes yes yes!!!

Having moved to Florida 3 years ago, I decided to start some flowers from seed to fill in a large bed we made. I grew trays and trays of seedlings to provide color and to also hide the many rose bushes my husband planted.

I remembered last year that the roses looked terrible during the heat of the summer months, losing most of their lower leaves. So I planted all sorts of flowers in front of the rose bushes. My other thought was the flowers would help shade the rose bush roots.

He decided to weed! Pulled every single flower up. He said they were weeds.

I grew those seedlings for months before planting. Now we have bare rose stems in the front of the garden. I will not do it again.

I was not as kind as Al. I came home, found all my flowers gone and got ballistic! I won't do it again.

Jane

Hi

To the negative when I go to the shows and bring home a box of rare and exotic stuff she says "How much did you spend"?? Picks up a red form of a Malaysian shingle plant and says "What kind of philo is this??" lol

And then last she goes shopping brings home a plant that I don't have a prayer of keeping and months later says "What happened to that plant I got for you??lol

On the positive . She takes all the pix and organizes the files though often the title says "Plant" Garden Pix ,Or white flower" etc. and you open it up and it's pix of her sisters or the great grand kids lol Sometimes there actually is a pic from the title at the end if you hunt long enough!! gary

Grace, I wondered whether the statement, "I came home, found all my flowers gone and got ballistic! I won't do it again." What? Go ballistic? Or grow flowers from seed?

However, my wife (of 46 years), likes the flowers and the edible fruits of my labors; but nothing else. I must confess that I am to blame for her seeming indifference. For many years, my job on a plantation involved much close contact with Mother Earth. I would come home for lunch and she would greet me with a bath towel! I would have to get out of my mud splattered clothes right there at the back door. I would go back to work in clean pressed khaki's, and polished boots - to get (mud) plastered all over again. My sister would nominate my wife for Sainthood. In the culture from which I come, that is a rare relationship.

Now, we would visit friends and I would pluck the yellow leaf from a pothos, or do the 'thumb & forefinger' swipe on the leaf of a corn plant, oblivious to the embarrassment of the hostess and my wife. So, I humbly own up to my OCD's (I do have more than the one) and even look forward to one of our closest friends greeting me with a feather duster!

At home I grow a rose bush and tend a kitchen garden for "you know who".

love reading all you storys....

You gentlemen have some stellar wives!!

Jane, I got a little angry for you. Lol and then I started laughing because how hilarious is that?! Meanwhile, your husband was probably wondering how on earth these "weed grew overnight" ---☺️ Literally! puhahaha. Not funny but definitely funny. Kkkkkkk

i have one do add.

I don't know if this happens to anyone else but does your non plant spouse or partner ALWAYS, without fail, brush by each plant that really would take a lot of effort to reach? I mean, a plant will be 2 feet from the door and I think it's safe....but then he will come out to throw the trash out and that trash bag will be like 3 feet wide! It is without fail.

HOW DID YOU NOT SEE THAT? lol

Some cute stories.

In all fairness, Jane, if you didn't warn hubby that you were planting a bunch of seedlings you must shoulder some of the blame. You can't expect non-plant folks to make such connections on their own. :p

Paul, let me give a bit more info. I started trays and trays of seeds for the flower beds (I have quite a few), and seeds for my butterfly garden.

My husband loves Roses. He buys them, puts them in the ground and will water them to death...nothing else! No fertilizer, no weeding, no nothing. He likes to water.

I'm the gardener. I weed, plant, mulch, fertilize. Last year I decided the roses he planted in the front of the garden looked horrible in July/August. Lost most of the leaves from the canes so all you saw were sticks with a few flowers on top (if lucky). So I made a plan. Plant some annuals along the border of the garden which would hide the bare canes come July.

I ordered lots of seeds, started planting them in January to go in the ground in May/June. They took up half of our lanai. He was annoyed all winter because I had plastic benches with trays of seedlings all over the place.

We are retired. Its not like he wasn't aware of these plants all winter. I put them in the ground around April. By July they were in full flower, looked beautiful and he pulled them out saying, they were smothering his roses and he thought they were weeds.

The man never pulled a weed in his life! Now we've had bare cane roses for the last 4 months. So, I will not go berserk because I will not plant anything in front of the bare canes.

I'll try to post a few pics of the garden to give a better idea.

Jane

Oh Jane, I pictured little green, weed-like seedlings that he pulled, not actual flowering plants!

Do you believe him? LOL

No Grace. Most had been growing for months in pots and were flowering. Did that on purpose.

I planted bedding Salvia, Gallardia, Zinnias. They were good size and I put large white labels in front of each plant to make sure the gardeners didn't 'round-up' them. By July they were all in full flower and looked so pretty. Hid all those bare canes.

So now, all I have are bare canes. Did he do it on purpose? I suspect he did. He said all the 'weeds' were smothering his roses. So bare canes it is!

These photos give you an idea. Just visualize a very large bed approx. 50 ft long and 20ft deep. The roses you see are planted in the very front of the boarder. So I dig it larger by enlarging the front border by about 3 ft to fill in with annuals. Looked very pretty.

As you can see, not a single zinnia, salvia survived. He even pulled up the purple ground cover (not sure what its called).

Since he retired, he has decided its his place to water and protect his roses. So be it. He was never involved over the years as he was away at work. Now, I'm in big trouble!

Jane

Omg, you think he really pulled them on purpose?? Did he wonder why the weeds were labeled? Hahahah!

I'd be suspicious, too, Jane, but you're hilarious! Did you do something to make him mad? Lol

Yes, it looks quite bare, though not ugly. I could imagine that with the flowers, the bed would look more complete. It must make you seethe every time you look in that direction, though!

This is what we were saying above -- not really better when you have a partner who also grows something. I wouldn't care so much if he wanted shade plants--he can have those spots but we'd have to throw down if he wanted full sun spots.

This reminds me of a time I sent my guy to Lowes to buy bark. This was when we lived in San Francisco and all I had were two small balconies FULL of plants. He said he wanted a plant, too, and I thought it was so cute so I said is find him the room to grow it if he wants to take care of it. (I can be kind of shortsighted once in awhile)

So I told him to pick one while he's at Lowes and I'd show him how to grow it. "We can repot it together!"

He came home with my many bags of bark. I asked if he got his plant and he said yes, it's in the car seat belted in...how cute, right? I couldn't wait to see it.

What did he bring home?

A god-%#£# Oleander....

He tells me he chose this one because it was cute, has flowers and didn't look like anything I already had. (duh.) I didn't have the heart to tell him he would have to move out if he wanted to grow this thing, so we repotted it and I begrudgingly moved my blueberry plant to give his god-%#£# Oleander space. I never asked but surely, he read the label? The thing would be enormous! Who buys a plant they don't know without reading the label!? Since he made no mention of its size, I made no mention of its size.

From that day on, he came out every evening to water it with a full cup of drinking water after dinner, and initially, I told him he didn't need to water it daily. He'd tell me he can FEEL the plant needs water and pours the cup of water in--and the thing wouldn't even rot! In fact, it looked bigger every day. If I did that in the middle of the evening every single night, things would mold, melt and combust.

Thankfully, within a few weeks he lost all interest so I could begin its demise. He would peek out every once in awhile and ask "How is my plant doing?" I'd tell him it's not good, he would tell me to water it and I said I would.

That thing took 5 months to die in the corner of my balcony in full shade (like, I opened the storage door to cover the atrocity altogether) without a single drop of water.

When I told him his plant died, he tells me, "I guess you can't grow every plant."

I agreed.

He's been talking lately about wanting a Venus Flytrap after watching some plant documentary...I can live with that. Much better than an Oleander. I mean.....he might as well have brought a Sycamore tree home!

With pruning the oleander might have remained manageable. I would have pushed him to continue taking care of his plant. Object lesson in caring for living things you adopt/buy. As it got large, you could then have pointed out what it said on the tag regarding size and introduced him to pruning shears. Who knows, might have gotten him into bonsai. :)

Jane, I too thought you had just planted unlabeled seedlings which could easily be mistaken for weeds. Yeah, the bare canes look is anything BUT attractive -- unless one is trying for the Adams Family garden. And having them at the front of the beds? *shakes head*

Hi Jane and Paul. Don't know if you remember me. I used to be Hopefulauthor until GW changed owners.

I'm not as 'obsessed' with plants as before. In fact, it's been about 2-years since purchasing indoor greens.

I remember ordering plants, 'via mail,' then sneaking them on a shelf before dh got home from work. lol

Clueless plant people ought not touch our plants..

A friend from GW recommended a fragrant 'outdoor' Azalea a couple years ago.

It was a little thing, but healthy. It's semi-slow grower, but finally flowered last summer. I've pointed it out to s/o a million times. This summer, s/o mowed it down to the ground.

I cannot repeat what I said to him after finding a 2" stub. lol

Three years later, I was looking for an old photo of mine and fell upon this thread. Forgot all about it. But I'm still laughing over these stories!! HAHA!!

Love that story!!!!Thanks for sharing...

My Mr. says in his booming voice 'You have too many, can't open the windows. Either get rid of the plants or get rid of the curtains'!??? what? after 35 yrs. together now he has a problem with my plants?