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What's Your Plant Profile?

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2009

You can learn a lot about people by paying attention to their gardening techniques and philosophies. Think about the gardeners you know who always load you up with cuttings, seeds and even potted volunteers.

They are all top-echelon nice people, are they not? And you could have guessed that before you got to know them just by watching their garden style.

Kim's philosophy is Want It Now; she's a WIN. When she gets a plant, she wants it big, in bloom, and ready to glitz her garden. She wastes no time with cuttings and seeds (hmm), and if a plant fails to perform, it's off the playbill. Adios, florita.

No doubt, when Kim watches the Big Game today, she'll do it with wings and chili prepared by hands other than her own. We can deduce this because, as a WIN, it's unlikely Kim would find fun or gratification in an afternoon of breading wings and stirring chili.

I, on the other hand, am a Nurture And Hold, a NAH. I can wait weeks, even months, for a seed to sprout or a plant to die. This likely was born of years of getting excited about thriving plants only to see them dashed by drought, hurricane, freeze, dog and kids. I don't do disappointed well. Patient is easier.

Being a NAH, I have already scheduled a week's vacation in mid-March, during which I plan to cut back my freeze- and frost-damaged plants. I will not remove one limp black leaf before then, though things are growing more unsightly by the day. March 15 is the magic milestone when all danger of frost is past, and those who cut before then might live to seriously regret it.

I've counseled Kim, who's a relative newcomer here. She lived down by the Everglades; what would she know of sudden freezes?

Up here, I've told her, you have to wait. The dead leaves help protect the plants if we get zapped again next month, which is quite possible. Cut them now, you might trigger tender new growth, which most definitely will fry in a freeze.

Just be patient, Kim.

"You know," she said last week, contemplating the weekend ahead, "for me it's going to be a really tough Saturday. I'm going to want to be out there in the garden and -

"The next time you see the tibouchina," she slashed her hand through the air (rather violently), "it's gonna be like this!"

I think I'll start some cuttings and seeds for Kim. Maybe pot up some volunteers.

Penny Carnathan

Come play in The Dirt at TBO.com, Keyword: Dirt. We provide all the tools.

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