Gormless or What!

Oh my! What an educational thread. I knew nothing of the secret life of pampas grass. Now finding some of these posts have become heavy with innuendo. Growing it in the front, how huge yours was, some of it poking out through hedge, whether or not you cut it back. Off to have a coffee and cool down.

I had no idea! What a sheltered life I must have led. We have a large clump of pampas grass near the gate.........it makes me wonder about the first owners, back in the 1970s!

Oh yes. Very large rumour in the 70s and 80s re pampas grass in the front garden.

Damn! I wish I'd known that.

I’d heard this reputation about pampas grass years ago fortunately I dislike it so have never had it in my garden 🤣 Have no idea if it’s true or a modern day legend!
Btw I love gormless as a word, one of my mum’s favourites 🤣

We had a pampas grass in our back garden, so we left it there. It must have originally been in the front as you could see the re-grassed circle in the middle of the lawn. Never heard of OMO or flamingos but we did have friends who would have liked to try a bit of 'wife swapping' but the rest of us weren't interested.

The last I heard those woven heart decorations hanging on the front door or the front window replaced the pampas grass.

I’ve seen quite a few of those around here Esspee
I can’t say that I understand the rationale of advertising the fact that you and the other half are swingers.
Are they expecting people to knock on their front door and ‘enquire within’?
It’s a very dangerous strategy.

I’ve been approached twice by members of the swinging community.
(One time by the brother of a very famous TV personality and his wife)

A friend of mine was driving home one dark night when her car began to play up. She pulled into a large layby to make a call to ask her partner to drive out and follow her back. There were a lot of cars dotted around this pretty secluded layby . . . some with lights on . . . and one or two men moving between them . . . you can work the rest out. Some kind soul tapped on her window and suggested she might want to drive on.

We inherited a huge pampas grass in our back garden I never knew its significance.
This has reminded me that the neighbour next door made quite a few passes at DH including sitting on the floor at a party and flashing her I'll be polite knickers at him. At one time she did have two lovers we all knew.
We were once invited to a party where couples were disappearing upstairs to see the new paintings!!!! The viewing seemed to take quite a long time and we got out quickly.

You live and learn.
My front garden pampas in the seventies just meant we liked the dramatic plumes.
Currently front garden has some grasses(not pampas),fuchsias,maples, a small magnolia, a few hebe and some stainless steel sculptures.

Obviously I've led a very sheltered life. We moved into our house in the 70s and , with a large garden, planted some Pampas grass, which flourished . Fortunately it was in the back garden!

I'd heard about pampas grass in the front garden and what it was supposed to mean so I'm always amused on the rare occasions I visit my grandparents grave in an old cemetary, one of the near by graves has a huge clump of pampas grass growing right in the middle of it - does it say something about the occupants?

My mother reckoned that’s how an aunt lost her husband to a friend in the 70’s - through key swapping parties - but that may be an exaggeration- I’d never heard of them till she told me that years later and also never heard of the pampas grass thing . I will never look at it in the same way again !

Oh goodness, I just told Mr Nick about the meaning of pampas in the garden , he laughed until I said it’s true ! We had a lovely one he planted when we moved into our house in 1978, it was greatly admired over the years and a neighbour even had an offshoot of it ….. I think we were all naive 😅😅

I learn something every day on this blog. Not sure what pampas grass looks like.

Apparently, the new sign is a pineapple!

Well I never!
What a sheltered life I’ve led.
I used to do home visits in the 79s and 80s and would often remark and admire the large pampas grasses in peoples front gardens, no one ever told me what they meant!

I knew about the pampas but not flamingos! I always thought it was two pampas grasses in the garden that indicated swingers live there. In the 70’s my grandma & grandad had a pampas in the garden and we inherited one in the back garden of a house in the early 80’s but as there was only one and it was at the back I wasn’t worried. We did eventually get rid of it and I remember my husband being scratched to shreds by the long grassy leaves.

The young couple across the road have a big vase of dried pampas grass in their front window, I guess they aren’t aware of its significance.

As an ex navy wife. OMO packet on the kitchen windowsill stood for 'On My Own!' I did nt know about the pampas grass. Maybe not in one place long enough to grow them.

I remember the OMO one, didn't know about the pampas grass though

I knew about OMO & turned upside down OWO (old woman out).
I also knew about pampas grass. We inherited a clump in the back garden. We got rid of it because the leaves are like razors and our daughter was starting to toddle so we wanted to protect her hands etc.

Well I never knew this but made me laugh as my mother has a huge one, the pink one which is stunning. The pink ones are so pretty, the bungalow was built around 1986. My sister has one in her front garden and house built around 1970, can't wait to tell her!

Never heard any of these.😄Are they all made up?😂

My sister who lived in the States years ago had a pampas in the front garden of her rental but wasn't allowed to get rid of it. A tornado passed through the neighbourhood causing minor damage and she was delighted that it had twisted the pampas into a tight pole which couldn't be rescued, so the landlord took it out......and replaced it a while later with another pampas.