I had a really interesting conversation with a friend about gardening etiquette and perhaps more accurately how people can, do or should behave in other gardens.
Now plenty of people give friends seeds, plants, cutting and the like, but their view was that if you went to another garden it was OK to sometimes sneak a cutting or indeed take some seed heads. I was quite shocked. Their view was that they wouldn’t miss them as if it was a cutting the plant would grow back and if it was seeds they would get more.
My view was totally different. If someone wanted a cutting, they should at the very least ask, and for me taking seeds off my plants would be really annoying as I collect the seeds to create seed mixes. Either way cuttings or seeds – they are my plants and are not open season for anyone and everyone to help themselves.
This got me to thinking about people who open their gardens for NGS days or other things. I wondered if a widespread attitude of help yourself existed, or if this view was not that pervasive after all?
They wouldn’t be sneaking a cutting if they really thought it was OK! And it would be really annoying if you were trying to save seeds yourself, only to find that someone had pinched them. I’m pretty sure everyone I know would know it was wrong and would ask if they really wanted something.
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