Poke and Kill Ya

We are not gardeners. The lady who owned the house before us had a plant called a bougainvillea climbing the tressles beside the driveway.

They had beautiful red flowers but they also had very long and sharp needles on the vines.

One day I was talking to the man who owned the house before us. He told me how his wife had worked for many years to get those flowers to bloom and how much she loved those flowers. He also looked at the vines and told me that they needed to be trimmed.

Barb was talking to a neighbour who had the same flowers on his tressle and she asked him how he trimmed them. He said it was very difficult. He showed Barb the scratches that he had gotten recently while trimming it. He said the vine should be called “Poke and Kill Ya” instead of bougainvillea.

Barb hated the bougainvillea because she kept getting stabbed by the thorns when she got out of the car in the driveway. So one day, rather than trim them, she cut them down and threw them out. She got terribly scratched by the thorns but she was happy to be rid of them.

Soon after that Barb went to the block party and saw the previous owner. She wouldn't talk to Barb, she was so mad at her.

Fortunately, in a few weeks, she got over it and they are back on talking terms.