Here we are at last in April and I am excited about the warmer weather and the gorgeous gardens sprouting up all around. I wish I had more of a green thumb but sadly, I was not blessed with the gift of gardening. I do try though. I have mostly given up on house plants as I never remember to water them. I figure if I stick to the outdoor variety then at least they have a fighting chance with nature providing sunshine and water on a more regular basis than me. I do have to choose plants wisely and stay away from finicky sun dwellers or shade lovers because, while I do have both in abundance depending what part of the garden you inhabit, each extreme growing condition requires diligence of the kind I do not possess in order to ensure the plants don’t either dry out or become water logged from neglect.
My Grandma was amazing at gardening. I swear she got a chopstick to grow into a tree. Her mantra was simply, ‘stick it in the ground and it will grow’. And for her it did. For me, not so much. I was lured by a plant last year and when I tell you it was a Hibiscus you will roll your eyes I am sure with the futility of trying to keep that thing alive inside during our winter months but I couldn’t help it. I had to rescue it. It was so dehydrated when I found it. It was wilted and sad, the leaves were falling off, there were no flowers and it was on sale. So I brought it home and watered it, and it rewarded me with beautiful blooms for the rest of the summer. Now, I am anxiously praying for sunny, warm temperatures again soon so I can stick it back out on the deck and revive it as it has, not surprisingly reverted to the dehydrated, wilted and sad state I found it in.
I have a good friend who has been encouraging my growing skills over the years and he often shares his thriving botanical excesses with me, preferring to scatter my garden beds with what I like to call his ‘ninja plantings’. One moment I have a barren wasteland of depleted soil and dried leaves, the next, a bountiful jumble of plants suddenly appears with advice to pick up some manure next weekend at the Van Dusen sale so the flowers will be sure to flourish. He has no illusions about my watering skills so he wisely tends to stick to the indigenous varieties that once established, tend to require little or no attention. It is because of him, that I can enjoy cut flowers regularly in the house. Thank you!
So, get out there gang and throw some seeds in the ground. It is such a simple gesture with so much potential reward. Who knows what’ll come up next.