Plants that Haunt you

I just spent a few hours watering and weeding my garden and getting up close and personal with my soil. I found so many things sprouting and growing that I had either forgotten about or never put there in the first place. I was becoming quite amazed by how many plants had come back or spread. Some are haunts that I should have know better then to plant in the first place like mint and others caught me by surprise.

I thought I had a sunflower growing that I had not planted, but I did grow them last year. As I looked around the garden I noticed that several people had the same rapidly growing almost tree sized stalks in their plots. Then it hit me, they were Jerusalem Artichokes. So out came Fred, the digging fork and dug them all out. They must have made their way over from a neighbors plot.

Some haunts are very pleasant surprises like the cornflowers that I planted last year. Last year I had pink, blue and white, but this year I only have blue...lots of them! They look great with the Spooky Dianthus that has been blooming off and on for the last 3 years. They are also growing with the centranthus which I am finding little shoots of coming up here and there.

There are lots of little Alpine Strawberries coming up everywhere too and they are sooo welcome. I love eating them while I am gardening. I have even transplanted some to more welcome areas and they take very well if done early enough in the spring.

The biggest mistake of last year to be haunting me now is the morning glories. I have been pulling them for the last 3 months and yet every time I go to the garden there just as many as before or more. I sure hope those seeds stop sprouting soon because as the other plants get bigger it is harder to see the morning glories. If just one gets big enough to flower it will start all over again!

Several years ago I planted a celosia called 'Flamingo Feathers'. It was really neat the first year, but now it is making its way around my garden still. I did leave a few little plants because they seemed like they were in the perfect place (for this year). They look so harmless, but I should know better...can't hurt if I don't let them go to seed right...right!

One little seedling that surprises me is the little viola that is still growing even after 5 days of over 90 degree heat. It is sitting happily in the shade of a tomato plant. I will leave it until it starts looking like it isn't happy there anymore.

I guess plant haunts are not a scary thing just a reminder of how tough some plants can be when they love living in your garden!

Happy gardening! May some special plants choose your garden to haunt!