Green Thumb? Meh.
Give me a house, and the inside will be whipped into shape in no time.
The outside, however?
Not so much.
My mama loves tending to her plants. And she has quite a green thumb.
I, unfortunately, didn’t inherit this.
Actually, it probably has more to do with her amount of patience with things, and me, well, not being very patient. 🙂
Even without gardening skills, we’ve managed to landscape our yard and miraculously 98% of what we planted not only lived, but thrived!
Woo-hoo!
Early last Spring, before Henry arrived, David and I spent a lot of time planning our flower beds. We headed to the nursery, and bought our plants, and had them all planted by our fabo yard guy.
Check out the post here.
It’s super fun to reflect on the BEFORE
Because here’s the AFTER
Our crepe myrtles and hydrangea just took off.
The crepe myrtles will grow to be slightly taller than the gutters, and the hydrangea, well, there may be no stopping them. See the middle bush, behind the bench? That center hydrangea stalk is a good foot taller than me.
After it rains, those gorgeous oak leaf hydrangea blooms are so heavy, they drag the ground.
I have to stop myself from cutting them all and having humongo arrangements all over our house.
That one stalk is just reaching for the sky!
Tucked under the crepe myrtles are holly bushes, boxwoods, artemesia, and loripedlum. They’ll take a few years to fill in, but they’re still doing great.
The boxwoods and ivy in the front pots still like their home!
Like the outside, I love having plants inside too.
Sadly, I end up having to toss them…either from neglect, or they were in the wrong spot, or we went on vacation.
I have managed to keep a few alive though.
My sister in law trepidatiously gave me this Maiden Hair fern. With due reason too…Maiden Hair’s are notoriously known for being uber finicky.
After a month, I am proud to say, it’s alive and twice the size that it was when she gave it to me!
Orchids and I have a maja love/hate relationship. To me, they’re gorgeous. I. Love. Them.
But try as I may, once the blooms fall, our relationship is over. Generally, they last a few months for me. And my often trips to Ikea usually produce a new one.
I seriously can’t kill this guy.
Not that I’ve tried, but he just wilts and I water him.
I highly recommend potato vine for anyone who needs a plant to literally tell you it needs water.
It’s been almost a year in October, and he’s still doing good!
Ikea always gets me with the plants. And this succulent is testament to the pressure I felt to find a plant to come home with me.
Two and a half years later, he’s still living!
I just wait until the soil looks dry, and water it again.
Same with this guy.
He wilts. I water.
Do you guys have luck keeping plants alive?
