SO - Am I REALLY a Plantaholic?

Ahhhhhhhhhhaaaaaa You sound like me.....lol.. cant resist a gardening book or DVd..... catalogue or free packet of seeds........always come back from local plant shop with something or other.... then i have to find somewhere to put it...... love your Blog....did you get your missing plants.....

Don't worry, Spritz, we will all keep your secret! With a big garden like yours you need lots of books, don't you, it keeps everything in proportion. And it's not your fault if garden catalogues come through the letter box tucked inside magazines, etc, is it? It would be wasteful not to read them. Just think - you are helping keep people in employment during this 'credit crunch' - well done :)

PS - like the blog and photographs - made me smile.

Plantaholic ! Hmmmmm let me think are u a Plantaholic Spritz YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS lol ,Great Blog & Pics Spritz & Henry Made Me Giggle with him being nosey :)xxx

You are not alone! I think we are as bad (or as good) as each other.

As well as being a plantaholic, I have to confess to being the same about books!

Super blog.

Holly, I have to confess that I rang another Nursery and ordered them! Tsk, tsk.

Definition of a plantaholic:-
You can tell a plantaholic by the amount of Latin they speak.
For they will not only be hunting out special plants, but also different varieties or cultivars of those plants.
They will hunt high and low for a plant that has a slightly different leaf shape or flower colour to the dozens of plants they have already, plants that to the uninitiated look pretty much the same as the others.
They are vulnerable to obsession, they will not rest until they have acquired simply every version of that particular plant, whether it is hardy geraniums or salvias, agaves or primulas.
Sound like somebody we know, folks? I think so!!!

LOL.

Don't worry, Spritz, you are not alone out there. There are many of us who buy plants and books both to a plan and on impulse
Loved the blog.

Your fab! Me being a 'gardener' and an experimental one at that - I love to buy plants, seeds books etc etc, but it's also great to get birthday presents, mother's day presents, christmas presents etc that are garden related. My mother's day gift from my 3 cats was 2 bags of compost - boring gift for some, but better than a box of choccies to me (and I confess I am also a chocoholic). Gardening books galore are propping up the bookcase, packets of seeds are bulging from the seed box, plant pots are stacked high in the shed, seed trays by the dozen, plants from the garden centre - even if I don't really 'need' them, I just ''want' them and I've just gotta have them. Gardening is a disease for which the only cure is getting dirt under our fingernails! I love it!

Hi Green fingers, they are some cats if they can carry bags of compost - you're a lucky mum.

Simple answer to your question ..Yes without doubt and seeming to love every minute of it .

Its an addiction Spritz,I,ve got the lot,books galore,tools that will keep me going for years and yes I am also awaiting delivery of my latest purchase from my recent plant catalogue, my wish list is growing rapidly as well Lol........

Hooray! I'm glad I am not alone.... :-)

Oh I can guess how you feel Spritzhanry when you 're in a garden centre or when a box of goodies arrives at your door, - but I'm not a plantaholic ! ( and if you believe that you'll believe anything. lol ) When Beryl and I go somewhere we don't say " where shall we go today ? " ; we say " what garden centre ( or centres ) shall we go to this time ? "

lol Hywel did you know the first symptom of an addiction is "DENIAL" of the addiction.

and I don't have a problem either. lol

Stand up. Say loud and clear my name is Spriztenry and I'm a plantaholic.There, don't you feel better? I love the Astelia chathamica- I've just lost mine during the winter it was a lovely plant I had a Geranium "Johnsons blue" around it. The blue and the grey worked well together.

Not sure whether I'm a "plantaholic" or not? I don't spend very much time at garden centres (not many in this region) and neither do I buy by mail order (couldn't understand the Spanish even if I did) BUT .... when I walk around the garden checking out how the plants are doing I keep feeling smiles tickling my face! I almost laughed out loud at a mesembryanthemum yesterday - it's so small I can't even see the leaves, but there was this little pink flower with a white middle against the bare earth and stones just smiling up at me - so I smiled back!

I forgot to say that I chat to my plants, as well! I reckon that is yet another symptom. Where do you get your plants from, then, Nariz?

Oh, and I'm sorry you lost your Astelia, Rbtkew - you'll have to get another one, they are just...beautiful! While you are buying it, get it a few metres of fleece and a hot water bottle - LOL.

Welcome to Plantaholics Not-so-anonymous spritz - great to have you on board. Now, which plant nursery shall we visit tomorrow? :-)
Just received a phone call to say my plant order from Trevena Cross Nursery in Cornwall will be dispatched this week - yippee!!!

Glad you were able to get the plants that were missing...lol

Loved your blog, i hae to say it but i think i'm that way incline get plants not got a glue were to put them, funny though always find a spot to put them. Always say not getting any new plants this year, who am i kidding.

Yep .... you have the symptoms Spritz, and there's no cure, so you'll have to live with it : ) xxx

Excellent blog and sure its a mirror of many of us a thousand times over, though I have to say Im not as organised for having an actual wish list that looks like a posh guest book!! :-)) my wish list tends to be random, spontaneous browsings through on-line garden centres and ebay, if its a bargain I grab it, if I need to think about it I add it to the watch list. When the courier arrives, Im at the door before hes even rang the bell :-)

Happy gardening.

It really isn't a posh book - I got a 5-year Gardeners' Log Book from eBay and TRY to keep it up with what I plant and which month - in the back is this useful section! It's much better than the sheaf of pieces of paper that I used before - I was always losing them!

By the way - can't wait for the other deliveries! I am SOOO excited at what's on its way!

So its official then? no shame you are not hurting anyone, just making the world a prettier place to live in, been out today and bought a few more treasures, the trouble is I keep thinking the garden is bigger than it really is, have decided to go up now, bought another arch and a obelisk.....hey ho!!! welcome to the club Spritz.

LOL - reading this has made it well worth being up at 2am. and yes you are defo a plant aholic - and i should know - being guilty of all of the above myself. - and how about propergating plants i already have, to sell on ebay, so that i can buy more plants that i don't have, without making my overdraft any larger than it already is - definate obsessive behavour! and as DD2 has said, i actually have to make new beds to house them all :-) never mind aye - i hate cutting grass anyway! lol

Seeds, Spritz! When we moved out here I brought veggie and flower seeds with me, then a friend who also suffers (??) from plantaholism sent me a huge parcel of flower seeds, so I've been experimenting ever since to see what will grow at this altitude. We did find one lovely garden centre and we call in there when we visit The Big Chorizo (Santander). Then our local town has a market every Monday with three regular flower stalls and one magnificent stall only in Spring that sells plug plants of veggies and is always heaving with excited Spaniards buying up onions, tomatoes, lettuces and beans. Then, of course, there is my lovely neighbour who I swap seeds and plants with, and I'm sure that with the bartering arrangement in this region, she has already exchanged plants with friends in other villages, so the African Marigolds, white Cosmos and blue Lobelia that she coveted when she saw them in my garden have probably already migrated to other villages.

wow i thought i was bad/good think i'm a junior plantaholic lol ,having said that as an economy attempt i have gone for bulbs as last year way over spent on v lovely plants and kept going back for more only trouble is i recon ill end up buying plants too again this to fill the space whilst i wait for the bulbs to come up. Gardening is a definite lesson in paitence.

I talk to my plants and sympathise when pot bound from the garden centre but i don't care its good for the soul and they dn't answer back or sush which i really like.

A little smile crosses my face when i have a winner or something i didn't know was there raises its little head o say hello and who are you first spring in the new house so lots to come i'm sure and looking forward to it with gusto.

So heres to the proud plantaholics.

Absolutely! Well said!

You give me something to aim for - I'd love to have the knowledge to enable me to be a plantaholic - at the moment I just go round garden centres filling my basket, only to go round putting it all back again when I eventually admit I don't know what I'm doing! My teeny tiny garden is going to be the best I can make it 'cos I've now got all you guys' knowledge to feed from. I too could be a plantaholic in a few years time! Here's hoping!

Oh dear, Tosh! Definitely not yet a plantaholic - but you will be soon - you've taken the first step by joining GOY!

Next step - take some risks in the GCs and choose something you like!!

Hi, it is my mission in life to "liberate" plants from garden centres.

We have been to our Garden Club tonight, there was a lady there talking about and selling herbs. She was brilliant. I liberated two of her plants. One was a Rosemary "Green Ginger" whose gingery perfume is fantastic, it will be great in chinese cooking.
The other was "Elephant Garlic" which she said is brilliant roasted. I also bought a packet of seeds form "Parcel" a variety of parsley which smells and tasts like celery.

If you want to check her out she is Sarah Clark, at
www.greengardenherbs.co.uk
She will be at Tatton Park and Chelsea.

I go to the garden club for garding info. My husband goes for the coffee and biscuits, we were home in time to see the "Apprentice".

Plantaholics Unite. We will take over the world!! LOL
You know you are a plantaholic when you can happily converse for hours on the subject until others are reeling with boredom and staring straight ahead with glazed eyes.
Me too Spritz. Great blog.

Thanks Gilli - you are so right about the glazed eyes - my husband has to listen while I go on and on about my latest acquisition - in latin - and he just about knows a dandelion, so it's quite funny - he sits there with his book and I get quite cross when he is obviously not listening!

Much better to go up the lane and chat about plants with my friend! I found another lady in the village who turns out to be a gardener and she has lent me a HUGE catalogue from her favourite Nursery! More plant-chats coming on, I feel!

Errrrrrrrrr - 'Apprentice' Marge? Would that be Apprentice Gardener?

Just think, we all help to keep courier drivers in jobs - it's a public service really.

LOL.

I've either found my spiritual home, or a secret club for people with the same addiction. Love the blog, love the comments. Now, before I forget, must track down my own copy of the 5 year gardeners log book!

Don't keep it to yourself spritz - what's this other gardener's favourite nursery? If it has a huge catalogue, I want to know about it!

Me too....do they ship to Canada??
I have so many catalogues that I've had to start a box exclusively to keep them in....you can't possibly throw them out...even ones that are 3 years old or more.

Spritz ~ Murray is exactly the same way as your husband. Mind you, we're even because I get the glazed look when he starts talking about these amazing (to him) pieces of heavy equipment like D9 bulldozers and such. Nice you have a friend just up the road to talk plants with.

Oiorpata ~ This is indeed the Plantaholics spiritual home AND a secret club. I don't know what I would do without my frequent "fix" from all my online gardening friends.

I can think of worse things to be!!

I've never seen a book set out for "plants to buy" That would be very dangerous in our house! Now we've sprawled into next door's garden I have an excuse..... "Now roses - they are something I've always fancied... and what about a Forest Pansy and those flowering shrubs...and....and!

If I have an ailing plant I try to nurse it back to health but my husband says "if in doubt chop it out - we haven't got time to wait". He tells me to go to get a replacement - the garden centres love me!

I am not going to advertise which big fat Nursery catalogues I have, I'd probably get flagged! LOL. I will PM you with the name/s tomorrow - it's bedtime! ZZZZzzzzzzz

I´m also a plantaholic, I like buying plants, when I see them, I buy them, and then have to find places for them in my big garden, but then once planted I don´t look after them very much, the passion goes away a bit (not sure why), maybe because I like plants to be independent, so I don´t have to look after them a lot. The only thing I do is water them from time to time, but eventlually I stop. I´m a gardener and I sometimes need to buy plants for clients, and I go to a speacial place to buy plants and they have a section of half-price and I always look to see if there is anything I like, I nearly always buy something for me! It´s a bit of an obsetion, in a way I like it, but on the other hand I sometimes feel I´ve spent too much. I also feel sorry for some plants and then I buy them.
I also like books, but I´m not obsessed in having them or having to buy some. Anyone like me?
I live in CATALUNYA (CATALONIA IN ENGLISH), (north east spain)
Adam.