Damage Control in the Garden

I think this little duck was protecting itself from the smoke!

Damage control in the garden community today.  On my walkabout I immediately smelled trouble, literally.  The heavy fumes of a cigarette permeated the air.  On occasion there are wafts of smoke from the neighbour, but we all have to live with that, the plants and us.  No this time it was a smoker at the front gate.  Fancy admiring a garden yet unwittingly harming it?  By the time I reached that far the smoker had moved on by. 

Out of the corner of my eye I'm sure I saw the perennial alyssum, trapped in the gate planter, squirming uncomfortably.  I believe it was gasping for air, the smoke fumes still menacingly spiraling about it.  And to add insult to injury, there, shoved missile-like into her meager allotment of soil, was a still-smoking butt!  The poor plant looked like it was trying to tuck its little roots as far away as it could.

After disarming the offending stub, I added some unpolluted earth to try to mollify the shaken alyssum, to gently nudge it to relax its little root hairs. I practically had to promise it immunity from future smokers for heaven's sake!

Did you know that persistent smoking around plants can actually kill them?  Surprise, surprise!

Alyssum leaning away from its nemesis! Solly is curious.