One thing I’ve learned is that there’s never a dull moment in the garden. From discovering animal tracks to vanishing leaves, my garden is a wealth of discovery. And fun. My son likes to build things in the garden, ie. ant arenas from dirt wells, swords from corn stalks… My daughter prefers to draw things, like sweet pea blooms and beautiful strawberries. Me? I just like planting and growing stuff, though it’s not always as I intend. Once, I planted pole beans. I built a string trellis for them to climb, watered and cared for them until they began their journey upward.

But then something happened–or didn’t, would be a better description. One of my beautiful, wonderfully healthy pole beans turned out to be an imposter! There I was, admiring my beautifully plump pole bean plants nestled snugly together beneath the precisely strung twine when I noticed the pretty white blossom. My curiosity perked. A pretty white blossom, which looked oh-so-familiar. White blossom?

Upon closer inspection, I realized “Wait a minute…” Why isn’t this particular plant climbing, either? An under-achiever?

Nope. An imposter. It was a Lima bean–not a pole bean! How did I know it wasn’t the real deal? Warmed at the thought, my heart swelled with pride. Because I’m a gardener! I know what pole beans look like and they’re not flat, wide pods. No, ma’am! Those are Limas. So what are they doing beneath my pole strings?

Good question. Maybe the kids and I became distracted during planting. Maybe they were stowaways in my compost pile. Whatever happened, they were in the wrong row. But I left them. I figured, Why not? They weren’t hurting anything. And you know what? They grew just fine. 🙂

How about you? Any funny stories you can share from your garden?