Strangers in the plot

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Having very recently found some plants which I swear I never planted, I thought that we could start a thread on here to see what everyone else has found in the past and which of them are the most peculiar, fantastic or impossible to explain.

My first discovery in this particular garden was a tiny wisp of what appeared to be grass, but pinkish in colour, which appeared between the patio bricks. It clung on despite being exactly in the right place to get stepped on every time I went in and out of the house.

For some reason, it survived multiple flattenings and started to grow. I had to admire its pluck and when after nearly a year it was still there, I decided to humour it and to the amusement of my friends, dug it out very gently (why gently after all that?) and planted it in a tiny pot.

A few months on, it had to go in a bigger pot and it was definitely something other than a wisp of grass.

To cut the proverbial story short, it now resides in red splendour in a border, having turned into a very desirable well-known variety of ornamental grass.

There may be other stories like this in future, and this year so far I have discovered a petunia in the azalea (now past flowering) smiling up between its semi-bare branches. “Peek-a-boo!” “Huh, where did you come from?”

And I would dearly like to know how I come to have a Snow Berry bush in the middle of the recently flowered Sage.

These are places which have not been much disturbed for ages and suddenly these things pop up when I am least expecting them.

In these days of purse-shrinking, I ought to be grateful that I am getting free plants, but I can’t help feeling a little irritated that they did not ask permission before they moved in.

• 9 Jul, 2011
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