[iris] OT-HUMOR:Re: Bleach water and Thistle tea

Patrick Orr wrote:

> Hi Griff,
>  
> I'll tell you a funny story.
>  

Great story and well told Patrick. The only use of thistle I have seen 
apart from bee food! The previous owner grew thistle and fennel for his 
bees so we have plenty. Think it will be any good for iris?

Michael M.

> Years ago about 30 friends of mine and I used to go camping out in the 
> desert.  The area we selected up near Cortez Junction had a stream 
> lined with black basalt rock and tall trees that had roots spiraling 
> over the ground.  There were a lot of indigenous herbs growing here 
> that the American Indians used to use in centuries past...horehound, 
> mullein, watercress, datura (thorn apple), broom, etc.
>  
> Also, there were wild grape vines and many flowering weeds of various 
> types (wildflowers) that I did not know the names of. 
>  
> We used to go camping up to 5 or 6 times every year, and each time I 
> would dig something interesting and pot it, and transport it back to 
> my garden in Phoenix. 
>  
> My friend Gerry, who lived next door to me in the duplex, used to have 
> a nursery in Florida, and knew a lot about plants.  One night when I 
> was off doing something, he told the rest of our friends he was really 
> amazed that the plants I bring back not only live, but thrive.  
> Apparently, he told them that plants taken from the wild do not 
> usually make it, and you should keep the north side of the plant 
> facing north etc, and that what I do should not live.  He said I 
> apparently don't know that and nobody has told the plants that either, 
> because they grow for me. 
>  
> Tom Barryhill, who owned and ran Barryhill Nursery in Black Canyon 
> City was visiting us that trip (he rarely went camping with us), and 
> he and Gerry decided they were going to pull a nasty little joke on me.
>  
> The next day, Tom asked which ones of us would like to go on a nature 
> walk and he would show us all the medicinal herbs that grow around the 
> area, and of course I went, along with everyone else.  Most of the 
> herbs I knew of, but toward the end of the tour, Tom pointed at a weed 
> looking thing and said it was a wild artichoke.  The Indians used to 
> eat them all the time.
>  
> He knew, as did the others that I would be digging and transplanting 
> that wild artichoke home to grow and eat.
>  
> So, I dug it and transplanted it into a one gallon pot, brought it 
> back to Phoenix, and I planted it in a planter 1 foot cubed.  I then 
> watered it, fertilized it, pruned the dead leaves from it, watched it 
> grow and get bigger and bigger.  Soon those five inch silver green 
> leaves in a star shape got about 2 feet long each.  It was a very 
> unusual looking plant.  People would come over and would marvel at my 
> wild artichoke plant. 
>  
> Then one day, I noticed it was developing a stalk, and boy did I get 
> excited.  The stalk grew taller and taller and taller until it was 
> about 5 feet tall, and at the very top, it was beginning to form 
> ahead.  In the mean time, I kept up my watering, fertilizing, pruning, 
> weeding, and caring for this plant like it was the only one in the 
> world because I wanted a scrumptious artichoke to develop. 
>  
> The day finally came when I felt it was of a size and maturity to 
> harvest.  I remember looking at it before going to work thinking I 
> would have it for dinner that night. 
>  
> However, when I got home I looked at it and horror of horrors, the 
> darned thing was blooming!!!  Worst of all, I then recognized the 
> plant and realized what it was...
>  
> It was one of those G.D.THISTLE plants that grow on the side of the 
> roads out in the desert!!!!!!!!!   I couldn't believe it!!!!  Here, 
> for months, I had been watering, fertilizing, weeding, pruning a 
> fricken WEED for gawds sakes!  Oh was I pissed! 
>  
> I went next door to get my neighbor to show him, and he came out and I 
> told him what it was and he roared and roared.  He said he knew all 
> about it and they were playing a joke on me because they knew I would 
> drag the plant back to Phoenix.  He said I had the most healthiest 
> weed on the planet and that he had been giving Tommy weekly reports on 
> Patrick's Weed, and they got a lot of laughter out of it...for one 
> thing it should have died and didn't.  Then it grew into a master 
> specimen, and I had not yet recognized it!  They just thought that to 
> be the funniest thing (and also one of the most diabolical tricks) 
> they have ever done to someone.  He said my face was just RED.
>  
> I ended up getting the last laugh, however.  I remember learning when 
> I was over in Germany that they would cut up thistle plants there and 
> rot them in water until they turned black, and that tomato plants just 
> LOVED that water. So I chopped up the thistle plant with the lawn 
> mower and put it into water until it turned black and used it on my 
> tomatoes, and it sure picked them up quite a bit. 
>  
> And my neighbor admitted they were the best tomatoes ever!
>  
> So, yes, if you do not know you can't do something, you could have 
> great success!
>  
> Patrick
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* J. Griffin Crump <j*@erols.com>
>     *To:* iris-photos@yahoogroups.com
>     <i*@yahoogroups.com>
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, August 24, 2004 11:45 AM
>     *Subject:* Re: [iris-photos] Bleach water
>
>     *Patrick  --  You remind me that one of the nice things in life is
>     the number of "impossible" things accomplished because nobody told
>     you beforehand that you couldn't. --  Griff* 
>
>         ----- Original Message -----
>         *From:* Kitty <k*@ojai.net>
>         *To:* iris-photos@yahoogroups.com
>         <i*@yahoogroups.com>
>         *Sent:* Tuesday, August 24, 2004 11:13 AM
>         *Subject:* Re: [iris-photos] Bleach water
>
>             . . . .   (One of the things I was told as fact is that
>             you cannot grow SDB's in the desert!  Well, I have tried
>             it and found that to be wrong.  Matter of fact, they
>             rebloom here too!) 
>              
>             Patrick Orr
>             Phoenix, AZ  Zone 9
>             USA
>              
>              
>              
>              
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> **




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