Who’s Out of Control?

A tongue-in-cheek rant

Do you ever hear someone say a plant is out of control? For me, that describes a plant seeding itself everywhere or spreading quickly across the garden beds. 

I don’t understand people who tuck a large plant into a tiny spot. When it grows to its full potential, they then complain that the plant is out of control. My favorite complaint is when they plant it in front of a window and then complain about it covering the said window.

Now I have size denial; I cannot lie! I tend to plant everything 6 inches apart (okay, that is an exaggeration, yet at times seems close to the truth! ). But I can’t blame the poor plant for growing too big. Of course, here in the PNW, we need to realize that plant tags don’t consider that our climate helps many of our plants grow a lot larger than the tag claims (allow an additional 30% to that height or width for that possibility). It still doesn’t mean the plant is out of control. We, gardeners, are often the ones out of control. I know I am when it comes to gardening.

The moral of this story is don’t blame the plant! You can murder the innocent plant, move it to a more appropriate spot, move the sidewalk, move your house, or move away.