The Dangerous World of Landscaping.

Disfigurement by lawnmower.

Crippling heavy-rock-lifting related injuries.

Really bad sunburns.

These are all the real dangers that are faced by any person intrepid enough to explore and attempt to alter a landscape. Sure, some tools exist to help us avoid these pitfalls - like sunscreen.

But there is one tool in landscaping and gardening that no amount of preparation can prepare you to handle.

I am of course talking about the credit card.

That's a lot of plants.

Take, for example, a recent sojourn to the local gardening center. I wanted to get a few berry bushes while they were still dormant, some manure, seed potatoes. The usual.

But then I saw them.

Perennials.


The first shipment of perennials had just arrived, and I became blind with garden lust. The next thing I knew, I had completely filled one of those giant rolling carts with the plants seen at right, which will soon make up the greenery in the shade garden I am building. --->

It was madness.

These plants won't be able to go in the ground for at least another week. So why did I buy them now?

There are two correct answers.

1) Lack of self control and patience.
2) I figured I could 'multi-task': get these beauties hardened up while, at the same time, waiting for the day to come when I could plant them. This, instead of buying them two weeks from now, and then having to spend another week hardening them.

In the meantime, my plants sit happily in a giant tub that, when vacated, will become a potato planter.

Be careful, friends and readers. It's a dangerous world out there.