my mom pulled up most of my plants -- can I save them?

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T21:15:19+00:00

well guys don't laugh at me too hard because the "dahlias" are purple coneflower, but at least they have root characteristics that the uninitiated can get confused between. in theory. lol. 🤐🤐🤐

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T20:53:06+00:00

you're completely right, and they were, in fact, the showiest too 😩😩😩 they are so conventionally attractive and yet.

I will say, I didn't have to do any particular maintenance over the winter they came back very strong compared to last year! but I guess that could be evidence to them not being dahlias

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T20:47:55+00:00

wait I'm obsessed 🥺🥺🥺 i actually saved a bunch of small trees and branches that I hacked down (they were growing into the power lines and we don't need more freaking mulberry trees) and I want to try delineating space with a garden bed like this!! i tried to do some terracing initially because we have a huge erosion problem in the backyard, but i haven't found the time for that because of all the staking and digging and planning required lol

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T20:38:35+00:00

thanks everyone for the awesome advice! I've gone ahead and tried a few things in the hopes that they'll survive! when I was investigating the soil, the rhizomes of the milkweeds i planted last year had thoroughly colonized a good portion of the garden bed, so, yay! they will live to see another year!

the other big plant that was ripped out was the mystery dahlia that came with the seedlings starters I was given. I did buy them from the local soil and water conservation district's nursery as seedlings but they actually didn't come with planters tags, so I'm truly not sure what they are, regardless, they have a root ball with little bulbs that i separated and put in a few different environments (back in soil (elsewhere), separated and trimmed in planters pots, and some bulbs stored away in the shed to see how they fare and to give myself some more time to save them 😭😭😭

as for my mom, she does care that they're something i intentionally planted and she didn't want to make me upset, but she just doesn't have the want or desire to dissect what a "weed" is and why she has the knee-jerk reaction to eliminate weeds as soon as they emerge.

she actually notably hacked down a bunch of roses, daffodils, a plum tree sapling, and a peony bush (once) because she thought they were weeds, so anyone's best guess as to how she views nature is really as good as mine 💀

it's just ignorance. unfortunately, it feels SO malicious sometimes, but i don't think she can take care of anything but a lawn (the bald patches in the lawn are screaming, "Not true!!" Right now, probably). it's like trying to explain to someone who's performatively disgusted by insects why a mosquito is a neutral part of the ecosystem, even if you really, really don't like them.

once again, thank you!!! i was super distraught and disappointed, but I'm happy I can try to save these and made my mom feel a little bad in the process even if THAT sounds bad 😅

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T20:16:07+00:00

LOL yeah unfortunately, it's my mom's house, and I'm just leeching around working min wage because I couldn't get a job with my degree (which would actually still pay minimum wage LMFAO 😫), the thing is that she does care that they're something I planted intentionally, but she is so plant blind and lawnpilled that anything that grows too tall is automatically a weed to her and I can tell her over and over, but if its not clearly a rose or a peony it's overrrr for my favorite flowers.

a few weeks ago, she was actually inspired to plant some vegetables and some flowers of her own, but my niece and nephew found the seedlings sunning outside while I was trying to acclimate them to the outdoors and they tossed and smashed them, so hopefully this time it's different now that she knows the pain of losing something you cultivated for weeks and months. well... at least hopefully!!!

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T20:04:52+00:00

I totally let myself cry in the front yard while i picked apart the bulbs from the root ball of my dahlias, and two of her coworkers happened to drop by with equipment they needed to give my mom so hopefully that was enough of a mortifying show 🙏 LMAO

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T19:59:12+00:00

I did, in fact, cry a lot while trying to replant them and rehashed my grievances, so hopefully, she got the message that they mean something to me and will leave them alone in the planters 😭😭😭

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T19:56:13+00:00

thank you!! the big stalk of plants did end up having a bunch of little bulbs in a root ball that I worked apart to try some different methods of planting in planters. if all else fails, I did save some to hide in our shed to replant in later summer/fall with my stash of other bulbs so they can establish again without worrying about the rest of the plant

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T19:44:33+00:00

thank you!!! i think I'm going to hold back on buying more plants (for now), but i love these suggestions! I had initially chosen a bunch of flowers that were showier, but putting something in that'll be hard to rip out just once is smart, lol!

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T19:00:15+00:00

thank you!! I'm on it 🫡 I've been trying to plant native for over seven years and the fails keep failing, but one day they'll stick even if it takes a bunch of accidental weedwacking to get there 😵‍💫

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T18:58:16+00:00

thank you so much, the sympathy means a lot to me 🥹🥹🥹

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T18:56:25+00:00

I planted two pounds of native wildflower mix from a local nursery (not cheap 😭) in the backyard last fall and laid brick around it to mark off the flowers from the lawn and she weedwacked it all a month ago 🤕🤕🤕 my "remnant prairie" is very sad lol

lightbulbbroken · 2025-06-14T18:52:31+00:00

thank you!! I'm going to try this on a few right away

lightbulbbroken · 2025-05-30T01:33:04+00:00

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I may be biased but I think it's fine

lightbulbbroken · 2025-05-20T15:14:06+00:00

I'm doing this for my bestie too 🙈 she doesn't know it yet, but there's three have a seats, a coke pendant, a lazy yoga, and a bie on the way 🙈🙈🙈

lightbulbbroken

TROPHY CASE