Touchy Feely

I love artemesia. Its beautiful silver, gray-green foliage is soothing. Its wispy foliage adds texture to the garden. Most of all, when I touch the plant, I get the same feelings inside that I get when I pet my cats. Artemesia is a soothing plant. It is soft to the touch like lambs ear. (Now that I think about it, why are both of these soft plants the same color? What other plants of different colors have this same texture? I can't think of any off-hand.) I love touching plants. I love the squeaky rubbery feeling of sedum. I find the petals of daisy-like flowers beneath my fingertips calming. Palming a hydrangea blossom is also satisfying. Running fern leaves between thumb and forefinger makes me tingly. I can't totally explain why I feel this way. A combination of the look, smell, and feel of a plant either makes it or breaks it for me. If it looks soft, it goes in the plus column for sure.

I remember when I was young, my mother had a row of cacti lined up on the living room windowsill. One variety had beautiful red needles -- soft looking needles that begged to be touched. I touched. I screamed. My mom sat with tweezers pulling the beautiful red plant protectors out of my flesh. Yet, I still have a compulsion to touch.

I realize that this compulsion goes beyond plants. I find myself touching items I see in stores too. I see the same touchy-feel propensity in my child who I am forever scolding not to touch while we are in stores. (I realize that this is hypocritical, but certainly a five-year-old is more likely to break that which she touches than I am.) I tend to think of the senses of sight, sound, smell, and taste as more important than that of touch. But when I contemplate how much satisfaction I get from this particular sense, I realize that it is just as important as the others. (Have you ever been posed the random question, "Which would be worse for you, losing your sight or losing your hearing?" How many of us have considered what it would be like to lose a sense of touch?)

The garden is a wonder of touchable items. I love stroking leaves and petals. I have a friend who bats at plants when she passes. when we walk through a garden center together, she has the urge to hit extended blossoms and leaves with her open palm...to each his own?

Rationalizing...

I visited five garden centers last week. Only one was a planned visit. I spent money at each place I visited. Okay, I'll give myself that it is early in the season. I'm excited. My gardens are crying for attention. I'm yearning for bare spots to be filled. The garden centers entice with flowers already in bloom. My garden is still in its last stages of dozing. (Wait...none of the things I bought last week are in bloom yet.Let's change that thought...) The pictures on the labels promising what particular plants will look like when in bloom cried out to me. I've developed a thing for chartreuse too. I noticed that in my garden only my three eunonymous plants have chartreuse, so of course I had to buy the chartreuse sedum that excited me when I saw it. Then I had a thing going and had to buy the chartreuse artemesia to balance the yard. After all, artemesia is one of my favorite plants and I have never seen it in this color! I visited the Bedford Garden Club's annual plant sale and I have to support the local garden club right? My daughter and I always enjoy their plantings downtown and at the library. We want them to keep up the good work. I had to be fair and buy my daughter a plant too, for her new reading garden. She really liked the bleeding heart at the plant sale. How could I say "no"? And the new garden center that my friend Sara introduced me to this weekend? Well, the prices were too good to pass up! I bought a 'Dark Dancer' clover. I have never seen anything like it. It was loaded with four leaf clovers and I've been telling my daughter for two years that I will find her a four leaf clover for good luck , but our searches have been to no avail. Since this was loaded with them, I took it as a sign that I had to get it and it was only $4! They also had a yellow rose bush that supposedly smells like licorice. Considering that yellow roses are my absolute favorite and I am a fanatic for licorice, I couldn't let that one go either...It was another sign.

Well, it's too early in the season to declare that I have a problem. But I do need to rein it in now. I have some specific plans that need attention. I'm on the lookout for unusual herbs for my herb garden this year. I am also looking for a lovely smelling ground cover for my daughter's reading garden path. (I'm leaning toward creeping thyme, but need to watch the light to make sure it is enough for this plant.) Finally, I need a little ground cover for an area leading to my back yard. Otherwise, I'm done... At least for a few weeks... Oh yes, and I only need 20 more points at my favorite garden center to get $25 worth of plants free - I'm so excited that they carry over points from last year. Not every place does that - So of course I need to go there soon too...