Grow-your-own Viagra craze hits Britain's garden centres

[Mind_your_head]

<snip>
A chance discovery by a Berkshire allotment-holder that a plant widely available in garden centres has the same effect on men as Viagra has been confirmed by experts at one of the world's leading botanical institutions.

The plant is winter-flowering heather, and botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, many of them heather experts who have recognised the source of its active ingredient, now expect it to be the next must-have plant in British gardens. Demand is already high. Nurseries and garden centres in some areas are having trouble finding sufficient supplies as word spreads of the plant's unexpected properties.
~~~~

The latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery by a 55-year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford, on his allotment. He was always experimenting with drinks made from different plants and one day he tried an infusion from his winter-flowering heather. He said: "The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street."

~~~~~

But not everyone is happy about this new discovery. One woman shopping at a Wyvales in Dorking yesterday said: "It's amazing. My husband has never shown any interest in gardening before, but now he's out there night and day fussing over his heathers. Frankly, I preferred it when he left the garden to me and wasn't so frisky."

</snip>

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2411405.ece

[mike_c]

1. oh, this one is CHOICE....

:rofl:

[depakid]

19. I posted this on another board

it'll be interesting to see who gets snookered....

[joneschick]

2. and it's purty too!

[hippiechick]

3. I always wondered why purple flowers are my favorite!

:rofl: :blush:

[CurtEastPoint]

4. Don't look! You'll get a ... n/t

[Junkdrawer]

5. I wonder if an Internet herbalist will cash in before it's exposed as a hoax?

:shrug:

[Jim Sagle]

6. Your pseud does match the thread.

:-)

[Mind_your_head]

8. My pseud can be 'taken many ways', yes......

:-)

[madmom]

7. now a whole lot more men are gonna get the gardening bug ...lol

[sutz12]

9. Do you suppose this is real....or a product of the day?

:rofl: Big pharma can't like this one. Will they put winter heather on Schedule 1?

[Mind_your_head]

10. I'm wondering if we would have any Patriotic Du'ers out there

that would be willing to do some 'scientific research' and report back as to whether this is true about the heather....?

:patriot:

(should I post this in the Activist forum too? ;-) )

[The Straight Story]

11. I'm gonna need a few acres of this to keep up with the wife

She hit 36 and is in full bloom, even with her parkinson's.

Now ya know why I have not posted much this week :)

Off to the garden center, I'm buying my wife some flowers!

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. I find this hard to believe......

but then it's not up to me to decide if it's real.

[hedgehog]

13. They do say the British have a dry sense of humor.

[slampoet]

14. Nice April Fool. The best are the things we want to be true.

Or are they?

[timtom]

15. Too rich!!

"...shopping at a Wyvale's in Dorking..."

Coincidence? (heh! heh!)

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Years ago, I read a story about a cow-chip throwing contest in that area...

Apparently, the victor had established a formidable reputation. As one of the contest attendees remarked, he was "something of a legend in the area of Dorking".

[hootinholler]

18. I had a table ad from a pub in Dorking

For Spotted Dick.

Nice town, Dorking.

-Hoot

[davhill]

17. April Fools!!