My Little Lamb's Ear

Anna has incredible power over me.  I don't why  - it doesn't seem like a good thing for a mother to be so swayed by one of her children.  Molly actually has this power as well, but simply doesn't choose to wield it the way her sister does. Anna is the master at getting my will to bend.

Maybe it's those cheeks?  That she looks more like Jeff than she does me?  That I love her spunk so dearly?  That she knows how to argue better than most kids her age?  That she's smarter than I am?  A combination of all of the above?

Anna's latest power move has been the taking over of my garden design.  This year she has convinced me to buy expensive items that I'm sure I'll kill or don't really want.  I mentioned the rosebush. I think I mentioned the dahlia (it's dying - brown leaves all over).  Today: lamb's ears.  

We spent the morning at a local nature center, which had a planting of lamb's ears, which got her on the hunt.  She's loved lamb's ears since she toddled around the children's garden at MSU, patting their softness with her chubby little fingers.  Today, she insisted we needed lamb's ears on our own property. 

If you know anything about lamb's ears, there's no such thing as "just one plant" once they get into your soil.  They like full sun too.  I have too few full sun spots in my garden beds.  Full shade - proliferate away.  Full sun? You're sharing that space with precious plants and you'd better not hog.  Not lamb's ears' personality.  Not Anna's either.  

The vegetable section was not allowed.  No messing with potential food supply.  Cutting garden - no no no.  That's all annuals - I want to clean that bed out every fall.  Strawberry patch - no.  I'm trying to get strawberries to go wild there.  Herb garden - too crowded.  

It ended up front and center in my perennial bed, with other aggressives like the shasta daisies and moonbeam coreopsis.  That way it might not actually be able to take over completely.  The poor blanket flower and bearded tongue may have to move.  

Oh, and she also got Tinkerbell bubble bath at the store today.  And a bakery cookie at the farm market.