I wear bogs boots the shorter ones. Its a farm and theres water and lawd knows what else. I take care of the critters then do the garden watering. Then go in and change into "decent" clothes lol. I usually weed and such later in the evening and then I just usually wear sandals or something.

Cynthia, trust me, my garden outfit would land me on the show "What Not to Wear", if it was still on the air! LOL. I hope more folks chime in with their stories and/or garden attire. Very funny thread!

totoro - ewwww... mosquitoes!!! I hate them!!! We don't seem to get any here. Don't know why??? I totally agree about the fingernail dirt!!

Bella rosa - I've often thought I would be perfect for that show. LOL

Carol

Nana, I absolutely love your gardening outfit. Very posh.

Here's my contribution for day about having a gardening problem. First of all, I don't even grow roses (I seem to have a knack for killing them, despite having an otherwise green thumb). But I read the rose section here anyway and learn a lot.

Two nights ago we had a really bad hailstorm overnight. In the morning I went out to look around. When I came back in, my husband asked me how bad it was. I was upset because the hostas in particular were bad. Plus more minor damage on everything else. I could tell you probably exactly how much damage to everything else, in detail. He then asked "What about the roof and the cars?"

I had to go back out and look again - I never even considered those things!

Cooper that totally would have been me! I hope your gardens recover quickly!

This is hilarious!!! I usually garden/plant roses in my snowsuit, scarf, and hat... it's so stinkin' cold out here in March when I get the digging bug and I HATE being cold!!! I get the digging bug so badly that I have been known to move roses around just to be able to dig dirt. My shoes have a permanent dirt crust on them during high digging time and have to be left in the garage. My nails never are free from dirt except when I get a Mani/Pedi which, at my house, is a fingernail clipper and a soak in the tub for my feet and hands... I can manage to get dirt under my toenails in March while wearing shoes and socks... it travels.

Oh, and Totoro who lives in Mosquitoville... you need to get yourself one of these. I had only 2 mosquitos land on me last year. Sure worked for me.

Dynatrap 1/2 acre trap for my 50' x 50' yard. I go big. Our mosquitos carry West Nile Virus so I don't mess around.

Rebecca

Ah, these are truly my people, my tribe! I think I gained official status as neighborhood crazy rose lady when White Licorice arrived from Northland. All my roses are started from or bands, so y'all know what they look like when you get them. Here in the South, we get them early & they are extra pitiful looking if you don't look through the eyes of love shaded by rose-colored glasses. WL was an agonizing choice, as I am not very fond of floribundas but needed a fragrant white without any pink. Notice I said "needed" rather than "wanted".

I usually keep my babies in their bands for a couple of days, just to let them recover a bit from their cross country journey & observe if they can go right into the ground or not. WL was rarin' to go and within 2 days developed this amazing, rose-encyclopedia-picture perfect bud. I lifted up that little band to closely observe my firstborn WL. It was so beautiful, so perfect and I swear already smelled like licorice. I couldn't help myself: I kissed that sweet tiny opening bud and told it how proud I was. Beaming over this treasure, I caught a glimpse of something out the corner of my eye. My neighbor, rather grumpy & pessimistic, observing me kissing my rose.

I garden in the dark (streetlight in my yard), in the rain (easier on my asthma & you can only get so wet), & the day before surgery made sure all the roses were trimmed up & fed so that my roommate only had to water them.

It's craziness, but it's the type of craziness that keeps me sane in the real world.

Little trick for the finger nails... you can wear vinyl, nitrile or latex (exam) gloves under your gardening gloves and never get dirt under your fingernails... or at least it's just minimal dirt. I work in clinical settings a lot (like hospitals)... and dirt under your nails isn't cool in those settings. :-)

Holly, that's hilarious! I haven't kissed my roses, but I do look at them and say, "Hi beautiful". My husband thinks I'm nuts and I'm sure my neighbors would agree with him! LOL.

Great stories. Cynthia, you are a fabulous writer! I always feel like hiding when the neighbors scold their children for not having shoes on. I am not a good example; always going barefoot, (unless I am planting something deep that I need a shovel.) Nice trick Cori. I am still trying to get used to wearing gloves. I like the way dirt feels, and how the heck do you weed with them on? I need to feel the roots to pull them up. But alas, I am a nursing student and dirty anything is not acceptable...

This is a fun thread! I forgot about "the cursing" as I call it. I'm so grateful, that to my knowledge, nobody sees or hears me out in the garden because occasionally when a bee is particularly interested in me or some insulting insect has damaged a rose I yell a string of curses. Sorry guys, I know this forum is pretty much "G-rated" and I appreciate that, but there is cursing in my garden.

At a Christmas party, my husband was talking to some people and they were laughing. I walked up and they said oh, we were just talking about you... I said, "Oh, the cursing?" They all burst out laughing again. It seems most acquaintances think I'm so sweet and innocent and, I am, except for the cursing!

he he great thread!

One time I threatened to slap the blackspots off a rose bush and then noticed neighbor watching me...lol...

Also I get funny looks because my shovel has a smiley face on it...lol..Here's my shovel just pay no attention to dead mole on it...lol

Can you come over and get my mole?

Actually our dog & cat teamed up to get that mole...I'll send them over nicholsworth55...lol

jim..that's funny!..I would be happy to meet your mole squad!..

You should move to England, you would fit right in. In fact it's the polar opposite situation, if you *don't* work hard at maintaining your garden you will soon find yourself persona non grata. Seriously. It's expected of you. All my neighbours will be out gardening at least every weekend but often more than that if they are older/ stay at home etc.. They wouldn't bat an eyelid at your alfalfa sacks.

My neighbor don't really talk to me except one lady next door. Probably because my dog is always with me and he bark at other dogs. Beside, I don't speak English very well and my communication skill is bad. Anyway, I save a few pairs of old, comfortable clothes for garden. More than one time my next door lady came and talk to me but here eyes up and down on my shabby clothes. I like to be in my garden so walk around front and back all day. Even in the rain. Sometimes when I spray my roses, my husband makes me wear goggle and facemask and I would dragged my 2 gallon spray bottles around. I could see people slows down in front of my house to look at the weird me. Last time the next door lady came when my husband was adding more zone to my sprinkler system, she said the so and so down the street told her I got my husband working again. I assume they do talk about me:)

I hope you get a more friendly neighbor! Your written English is very good, but I know speaking and writing are such different skills.

Maybe we should follow Nanadoll and post photos of gardening shoes!

Rebecca thanks for the dynatrap recommendation.

My shoes with a flopping moonstone peony

lol thanh kieu, I think people here might think Im a homeless person the way I dress out in the garden. I sometimes wear a pair of my old hospital scrub pants w cargo pockets that I cut off into shorts. They are thin, cool, and dry quickly if they get wet lol. They look really bad but functional. I never wear nice clothes out there. The last time I wore a new shirt I got a tear in it immediately from Teasing Georgias grabby thorns! I was so pissed.

Totoro- That peony is gorgeous! I like the shoes too. :D

sultry_jasmine..you reminded me that I've ALSO created shorts (cutting the legs on pants)..looked exceptionally bad wearing my "shorts" with my homemade "clogs" (comment above)..also have an old shirt of my husband's where I removed some button down flaps..now the shirt has a line of perforated stitching holes above the pockets..obvious and pretty ugly..have also worn unmatched socks..saved the mate when just one has a hole..dressing "casually" in the garden saves money..which you can spend on PLANTS!!..lol..edited to say that my best looking garden shirts came from my sister..she'd say "I was going to throw this away but thought you could wear it to work in your yard" (she knows that nothing is too hideous for me haha)..

Mainly I annoy adjoining property owners here by having weeds, resulting in them feeling entitled to do damage. Like the Rosa banksiae 'Lutea' that got spoiled by herbicide last summer after it poked through a shared wood fence over onto a neighbor's side maybe 12 in. (I've also had more than one party come onto my property - without authorization - to make things the way they think they should be. Including doing stuff like pulling plants out and spraying herbicide in the process. And, except for the weeds that have gotten going in later years my place does not look like a vacant lot!).

Anyway a now deceased gardening friend confided at one point he was afraid he had become "the neighborhood spectacle". Most of his efforts were concentrated in a partly fenced back yard, in his "playpen". But that didn't prevent this intensively planted, formal layout full of fruit trees, perennials and roses from being noticed.

That's what O.P. is, the Neighborhood Spectacle. Nowadays, 18 to 31 year olds are mad about plants. People older than them, not so much. (Even though there is a recent history of middle aged, first time homeowners being the core market for garden centers). So anywhere a hobby garden is visible there will be lots of neighbors who wonder "Why all the plants?".

Embothrium, I can sure relate to herbicide damage. I have battled the park maintenance crew for years. So frustrating! I've lost three roses so far, and one is finally making a comeback after a full year of recuperating.

Cori Ann, I love the idea of wearing latex gloves under garden gloves. When you first mentioned this a few weeks ago, I went right out and bought a box. I am so tired of paying for my groceries and realizing with horror how dirty my nails are. I'm forever saying, "I'm sorry, I was pulling weeds just before I came." So anyway, I bought the gloves and have worn them about.......twice! I don't know what it is with me. I need to wear them, but I don't. I do like to feel the soil and roots in my hands. I'm also one of those "here and there" gardeners. I rarely start and finish a job in one go. I piddle with one thing, pull a few weeds, dead head some roses, and then dig a hole for something. I'm sure this is not the most efficient way to garden, but I can't seem to help myself. I have made a resolution to wear gloves while weeding and digging in the soil. I've got to. It's getting embarrassing:) Lisa

Nicholsworth- that is hilarious! " She knows nothing is too hideous for me".

This is my new hubby and I's first garden together (though I've had several in the past) and I thought "Why can't I look cute while gardening?" Well, that lasted about a millisecond.

Diane- I love your sweatshirt! It has the" I was attacked by Roses" look. I've have one of those too. :)

Sarah..it's funny when we leave to go to a store, lunch, whatever my husband will say "are you going to change before we go?"..and he sounds kind of scared as he says it lol..

Nippstress for your viewing please! My garden attire ;) my MIL gives me such a hard time about these shoes, and I for the life of me can't figure out why...

ps: the cutoff yoga pants are also a must hahahahahahaha

Despite not speaking English, my Google translator allows me to understand some things. I'm laughing out loud. My husband says.

- But why are you laughing so much?

How to explain as many things as I am reading in this forum. Comments with which I identify absolutely. I also wear old clothes, with holes and I always have a horrible physical appearance !!

I'm going to use the translator and I'll describe some of the things I do that my neighbors consider rare. Not just my neighbors, my own family !!

Many thanks to everyone for making me laugh so much.

Cool stories AND photos, folks and I love that this thread is taking on a life of its own! By all means, digress to your heart's content. SHOES RULE - good idea, Holly! Jackie Davis, seriously I see nothing wrong with those shoes, and Totoro those are very like my Sloggers except I have a black background. Lovely one and all even if others don't appreciate them properly! Sultry, Bella Rosa, view1NY, Carol, Rebecca and all, looks like Nicholsworth has set the bar pretty durned high with the "nothing is too hideous for me". A hilarious and totally unwarranted sentiment I'm sure, but it sounds like a challenge to top this folks, and there's nothing rose gardeners like more than a challenge (hint). Sarah's right that we can't look cute when gardening is that dirt happens and the reason is we're too busy making our flowers look good to fuss about ourselves. Bryony, it's a relief that our work ethics would suit gardening in England, but given the meticulous care and neatness in the gardens I saw when living there I fear I'd fail tidiness in a whole new realm if I couldn't blame my clothes.

Hands are harder to change than clothes, so the nitrile gloves are a good idea Cori Ann if I can just remember to use them. A friend has given me two boxes of 100 each Christmas (nothing like a SUBTLE hint), and the only person who's used them has been my husband for changing the oil in his car. Oh, I wear gloves, unlike Kelly and Lisa, but there are so many holes in the ends of my fingers that dirt seeps through (I wear them more for thorn protection than dirt avoidance). Cleaning up our language though, Towanda, is more work than it's worth - let everyone else wash their ears out with soap (this is a twisting on a saying in English that someone who curses should wash their mouth out with soap).
For speakers of English as a second (third or fourth) language, you all have my admiration for chiming in and sharing your observations freely with us and tolerating the English of these forums. Thanh Kieu, your neighbors are foolish not to talk to you more often because they miss your delightful insights and sense of humor. The same goes for you, Alegria! We are so glad you're part of our gardening community here and our lives would be poorer without your insights. Please continue to share with us -we understand each other as rose gardeners without a lot of words (pictures are great too...).

Cooper you're officially a rose gardener if you've killed at least 3 roses. They don't have to survive to belong in "the club", at least I hope they don't since I have killed more roses than I have ever successfully grown by this point in my life. We can tell you're a Gardener with a big G with the oh-so-true story about your priorities in the hailstorm - heck, cars can be repaired but hostas are Living Beings! Obviously Holly's roses appreciated the kiss since her photos are lovely, so her neighbors will secretly start to copy her. Embothrium, I certainly hope you're right that young people are getting more interested in gardening, and I'm happy to do what I can to encourage that. I took my kids to volunteer at a community garden getting put together at a local elementary school, and the people volunteering were either over 50 or under 18. I was of course one of the under 18, you understand (smile). I figure today's young people will be tomorrow's gardening adults!

That's why having fun with gardening is so important. Yes, Jim paint that happy face on the shovel and let your attack cat have fun with the mole. Those, Japanese Beetles and mosquitos are living things I absolutely refuse to kiss or pamper, and Rebecca's mosquito zapper is starting to look pretty good after all the rain we've had.

What a good way to head into a full weekend of rose planting! Thanks for the mood boosters!

Cynthia

Cynthia..I've really enjoyed your post :-) I read some to my husband just now and he laughed..doesn't this sound about right..I have some beautiful elbow length leather pruning gloves that I never wear because I don't want to mess them up..wouldn't it look funny to wear them with one of my garden outfits?..

I never wear gloves - can't stand the feel of them...and the lines in my dried out hands constantly have dirt no matter what I do. Easy way to get the dirt out of the fingernails is to blast under them with a strong spray of water. Works like a charm...but them I get myself all wet too. LOL

Carol

I start out wearing gloves, but then they get in my way and I rip them off and keep going. Seems like I remember one church member asking if I had been in a cat fight. Puzzled, I looked at my arms. Absolutely covered in scratches of varying depth and length, some still leaking the ol' vital bodily fluids. I guess it would be difficult for a non-G ( non gardener) to understand how that lovely bouquet in the fellowship hall attacked & shredded me ; )

My method of hand dirt removal: Coat hands well with a heavier oil, like almond or olive. Grab a spoonful of sugar or fine salt. Rub into oil for a minute or two. Pump 2 or 3 pumps liquid hand soap (not foam or creamy kind). Rub until sugar starts to break down a bit, add a little water. Rub until sugar really is dissolving & rinse + rub under warm water.

For under nails, after the above scrub, I use an Orangewood manicure stick. Wrap the end in a bit of cotton ball. Wet it & dip into liquid soap and squish around under fingernails. Rinse & use white chalk nail pencil under nails before drying hands.

This takes a bit of time to work out your methodology, but really gets hands clean without irritating skin.

Holly - that sounds awesome!! I will definitely try that!!

Carol

Wow! Holly, those are fantastic directions. Now I just need to find and orangewood manicure stick and white chalk nail pencil!

Any beauty supply store will have them & probably Walmart or Target. The chalk pencil is wonderful after gardening, working with blueberries or blackberries, anything that stains the nails. It will not work if your fingertips are dry & it doesn't work if you try to wet the pencil instead of your nails. Lasts for years & the orangewood sticks last forever, too.

My neighbour came back at 1:30 am and caught me picking off slugs and snails this morning XD

He obviously didn't know what I was doing and asked me if I was all right in a very worried tone of voice! I told him I was picking off snails but he isn't fluent in English so I'm not sure he got it, it probably just made matters worse.

Cynthia, your story was wonderful and made me chuckle. I loved reading your story and everyone elses. I am definitely the oddball gardener in my neighborhood so I very much related to your story.

Most of my neighbors have no landscaping at all, or have very organized gardens with weed fabric and river rock to prevent constant planting and gardening adventures. I think that adds to my weirdness level for them.

I am often barefoot and still in work clothes running around the garden. First it's just to admire and see how things are going. Then I decide something would look better in another spot. So I must dig it up right now! That often leads to rearranging many plants and then of course weeding.. an hour later my husband is walking around the property trying to figure out where I ran off to.

One evening last summer at dusk I discovered that my beloved german shepherds had dug up one of my newly planted apple trees. I was angry and worried about the roots drying out since they were partially exposed, so I finished uprooting the already disturbed one, and dug up the other newly planted apple tree one several feet away. It was dark by the time I was replanting them and I couldn't help but think how weird I must look digging huge holes in my yard in the dark.

A few hours later we are sitting on the couch watching something on netflix when I realize my wedding ring was gone. Distraught my husband and I went outside with flashlights looking all over the property for it. We eventually gave up with no luck, I am sure after alarming the neighborhood. We found it much easier in the morning when the sunlight was back.

For our anniversary in April, my husband gave me these huge beautiful wind chimes I've wanted for years that have 55" poles and as we were lugging them into the garden I said "I think I might be turning into the crazy garden lady" and he said back to me "I think you've had that title for a while."

Michaela

What a beautiful gift from your husband, Michaela.

Yes!! That "sounds" :) like a wonderful gift! Thank goodness you found your wedding ring!!!! Wow!!! Your husband has it right - we're all a little/lot crazy. LOL

Carol

Aw thank you both! I plan on taking a video of it soon to share how lovely it sounds but I am waiting for the peonies next to it to bloom so there is something pretty blooming in the video! :)

LOL I think you are right, but I wouldn't change it. Being a little crazy makes gardening and life more entertaining!

Wonderful story, Michaela and I can totally relate to the "I'm just going out for a minute to check on something" and coming back hours later with mud from head to foot. Gardening is the only right-brained thing I do, and I actually encourage that to keep myself in balance. "Scan garden - hmm, wrongness (canker). Fix. Scan- beauty (roses blooming, enjoy). What on earth is this? Oww, oww, sorry rose." I'm usually lucky if the first thing that drew me out into the garden actually gets done before something else claims my attention. Your husband is very thoughtful with the wind chimes and he's showing how much he loves you, even if he doesn't share the craziness. My husband a few years ago spent hours testing out all the wind chimes in the garden shops till he found one that had a pleasant restful chiming sound (he's a musician and that was important to him, and it is a very pleasant sound). Parts of those chimes are falling apart, but I still hang them in honor of the thought and love that went into the gift.

Holly, your nail tips sound absolutely perfect for an early birthday present suggestion! We have some extra olive oil that's not particularly tasty, so I may put that by the sink in gardening season too. What a simple elegant solution all around, since no matter what I do I'll have permadirt hands in summer! Looks like Carol and Vaporvac will be taking advantage of this too. Nicholsworth, I think your new elbow length pruning gloves would lovely with your "nothing is too ugly for me" garden outfits. My theory is if they notice a coordinated garden item (in my case a lovely straw hat my son gave me for Mother's Day) they won't notice the rest.

And speaking of noticing, Bryony, I might wonder if your neighbor is concerned that you're picking the snails off to eat them. I don't know what kind of snails go into official "escargot" but I rather suspect and hope they're not the garden variety of snails. I don't care how much butter you spread on them, I'm not eating the ones I find in MY garden. Maybe you can send over some clearly snail-free cookies to acknowledge and thank him for the concern, so he'll think you're a nice as well as crazy garden lady.

Great stories!

Cynthia

Cynthia that is so funny that your husband also picked out chimes for you and is a musician. My husband is too. Not professionally, but it's his "gardening" if you know what I mean. Presents that have that extra love and thought put into them are extra special. I love sitting in the garden and listening to them, though I rarely allow myself much time to sit before something in the garden catches my eye and I have to get to work! :P

Cynthia, show us your new straw hat please. :-) Love straw hats.

I'm lovin' all you guys' stories. We truly are a buncha nuts aren't we?? LOL

So, we moved into our house in 2000, after living in a mobile home park for nearly 11 yrs before that. I became a rose nut while there, and I knew one day we'd get outta the park and get our own home with property.... so most of my roses were planted in big 16" plastic pots so we could move them when that day came. Problem was.. I had accumulated around 800 by that time, including a couple 100 minis in 8" pots. So even with 2 young boys and their toys, the bulk of our move was potted roses!

The property is a good 1/3 acre on a corner lot at the fork of a circular road. With all the pots all over the virgin yard (no fence, very few native plants, mostly dirt) people would drive by and stop and ask if we were opening a nursery. I (or my husband) would just laugh and say, "nope... it's just a serious rose obsession!... they're all for us." Over the yrs, the neighbors just got used to seeing the crazy rose lady out there. I don't necessarily wear weird attire while out there, but I do have to have something on my feet to protect them from all the crap out there. Unfortunately, working two jobs for awhile there, plus helping to care for my elderly mom the last 7+yrs, time became an issue, and living in the "sticks" up in the Sierras with all of Mother Nature and her wild flora and fauna, things can get out of control very fast. I'm quite sure my neighbors wonder why the heck I haven't gotten all the weeds, and the massive blackberries and heavily overgrown underplantings taken care of. I feel like I'm losing the battle. But, I did have one of the neighbors the other day stop to let me know our dog had gotten out and she'd come to visit their dog, and I apologized for the broken gates that my husband hasn't fixed yet. But he said it was ok and then very kindly said he wanted to thank me for all I do in my yard. He said everyone enjoys seeing my roses blooming! So that made me feel good (even tho I had to apologize for all the weeds) for which he offered his daughter to come help dig them out. But I wouldn't put a little kid thru that. It's too much for an adult! LOL

Altho I don't wear funky clothes out there in the yard, I do have to add that I wear some crazy badges of honor, between the gardening and taking care of the chickies. My arms get covered with bruises and scratches! I just turned 60 last month and the last couple of yrs I notice I get those horrible red blood spots whenever I get a minor wound. A thorn poking my arm will create a dime-sized (or larger) red spot. Multiple thorns will make my arm or hand look like I was in a horrific accident! And chickie bites do the same thing! Sooo... instead of getting upset about it, I just wear those wounds proudly! If anyone asks what happened to me, I just say the roses bit me or the chickies bit me! Oh and the other day I came to the shop in a black sweatshirt with chicken poop on the lower front! In fact I just noticed the shirt I'm wearing now looks like it does too! Geez!! Oh well.. I don't care! I love my chickies and I love my roses!!!

That must have been so satisfying to hear that your neighbors love your roses!! It would be quite amazing to have an aerial shot when most of the roses are in bloom!!! The chicken poop on the clothes is funny in a good way. It's wonderful that you have such joy from your chickens and roses. :) I usually go around with butter stained shirts. I go, crap...there's another shirt with butter stains...oh well. :)

Carol

You are so funny! What a treat, Beth and Carol and all of you!

Yeah, we're all good for each other here. :)

Carol

I am afraid that my posh neighbors think I am the weirdo backyard lady who is always examining the leaves wearing blue medical gloves...but I feel easier to get through the branches to squish the slugs without breaking tender buds that way.

Great thread! lol