One of the grad students who works in the same area as me has
been bitten by the gardening bug. He stops by from time to time
to talk about what he wants to grow, and I've offered some advice
on where to get good plants, or to handle some container
gardening problems.

He's hit that "LOOK WHAT YOU CAN FIND On THE INTERNET!" stage,
and ordered himself some banana plants. Now he's trying to get
*me* to order banana plants.

I've tried to explain politely that I don't really have any
interest in growing banana plants, even if they, as advertised,
will survive outside around here. I'm not getting through,
though. He sent me the URL for the banana site, and asks me if
I've looked at it yet every time he sees me. All day, he asked
me.

I have to laugh. It's fun to see someone else go through that
first wild gardening ambition. I'm trying not to squash the
enthusiasm by poo pooing all the impossible things he wants to
grow on a small apartment patio, but I'm a little bit torn. It's
hard to find a balance between offering good advice and being a
gloomy old fart who rains on his parade.

It should be an interesting summer.

Penelope
--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"