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Gardener's Anonymous: How addicted are you?

© Carol Wallace

[Editor's Note: This is an article that originally appeared here in 1998 - now updated. It seemed too appropriate, with everyone talking about thay first visit to the nursery this spring. But this does not replace my regular article which will appear here on May 9.

My name is Carol Wallace--and I am a gardener. I am also a garden addict.

If you're reading this, chances are, you are, too. You may not realize it. But as we all know, denial is one of the symptoms of hopeless addiction. So don't deny it.

Hopeless addiction may not be a bad thing. After all, gardening is a communing with nature, a partnership with living, growing things. It puts you into the company of many other wonderful people. People who think a bucket of manure is a perfectly lovely hostess gift. People who, when they hear the word deadhead think flowers, not rock groupies. People who welcome you into their gardens and can't wait to share its bounty.

But it's still an addiction.

So--how addicted are you? Take this little quiz. You don't have to tell anyone the answers -- but we'd appreciate it if you'd share a few of them with us.

How Hooked Are You? 1. How many times have you been to a nursery this month?

2. When was the last time you visited a nursery and bought nothing?

3. When you visit a friend, do you find yourself not only begging for cuttings and divisions, but doing their weeding and deadheading on the sly?

4. Is there a permanent dirty mark on your index finger from pulling those weeds?

5. Is your idea of a big excursion a trip to an out of town nursery? 5a) Do you take the long routes to destinations in order to be able to pass the nursery just to see what's new?

6. How many plants do you have sitting in pots or flats, still unplanted?

7. How many of those plants do you actually have a place for in your garden?

8. How many packets of seeds did you buy this year then find you had no room to sow?

9. How many seeds did you sow and germinate, that you had absolutely no place for?

10. Have you ever bought a house you disliked, just because of the yard?

11. Have you started covetously eyeing your neighbors yard yet?

12. Have you started thinking about having a plants only garage sale?

13. Are plant and seed catalogs your favorite reading material? Is there a stack by your reading chair? Your bedside? The toilet?

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