A Gardener at Heart

I love puttering and piddling and playing with plants and flowers, but I have to confess that I'm not much of a gardener.  I truly love plants and flowers and enjoy digging in the dirt and planting them, but I don't have the patience it takes to fertilize, or re-pot, or prune, or spray for insects and diseases, and all the other things that separate the dedicated gardeners from people like me.  I guess my little "Grow dammit" sign pretty much sums up my philosophy of gardening.

I just want my flowers to grow and be happy and make pretty blooms and not lose their leaves or turn yellow or brown or wilt.  Is that too much to ask?

  

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a pretty pink Knockout Rose, and it bloomed beautifully ... for about a week. 

When I noticed it wasn't blooming as profusely, I moved it out into the courtyard where it would get more sun.  But it has been steadily going down hill, and looks as if it has been literally "knocked out" and is down for the count.

I'll give it a couple of weeks and if it doesn't perk up, I'm afraid it's going to end up on "death row," which is where I put the plants that don't survive my "tender loving care."

On a brighter note ... I'm pleased to say that I actually have quite a few survivors. Like this ivy plant ...

It sits on a table on our porch and makes me smile every time I see it and its little bird friend.  

This primitive little wooden birdhouse planter was the container for a Mother's Day bouquet from my sweet husband ...

I added a clump of ferns in a clay pot and, I ask you ...

does it get any cuter (or simpler) than that!

Fortunately, considering my lack of gardening skills and gardener virtues, I've discovered that you don't have to spend a lot of money on exotic plants to add interest to your landscaping.  

This "grocery store" palm plant is nestled amongst a couple of stone birds on a table beside our porch door, and seems to be quite content with just a drink of water every now and then ...

My daughter gave me the pretty copper and aqua planter shown below for Mother's Day, and I love the way the coleus plants perfectly complement the colors of the planter ...

So far, so good ... 

Red Impatiens make a pretty contrast with the verdigris armillary on this little garden cart.  I have to water them every day or they will wilt (not a good prognosis of things to come?).

Lantana is a great cascading plant for large urns and is practically maintenance-free.

I am "into" lime green this spring, for some reason, and spray painted an old urn that had red Sunpatiens planted in it (I kindly covered the flowers with a plastic bag, in case you're wondering).  I like the combination of lime and red ... 

I also added Sunpatiens to this planter beside the path leading from the courtyard to our backyard ...

I can see the planter from our bedroom window, and I love opening the blinds in the morning and being greeted by those pretty red blooms.   I just hope they survive the long, hot summer that's fast approaching.

Simple ornamental grass plants in urns or pots are easy to take care of and can fill a space where you need a little something extra.  Variegated liriope looks elegant in this footed urn with a small iron trellis.

This urn is beside our pond and  holds a variegated Asiatic Jasmine plant, which has "weathered" several winters and faithfully comes back in the Spring (my kind of plant!).  

I'm terrible about throwing away the tags that come on plants (something a true gardener would never do!), and I don't know what kind of plant this is ... I know it's some kind of lily grass, but can't remember the name.

I bought it last winter and was so pleased that it survived.  Another one that just needs water to be happy. 

I hope I haven't given the impression that I don't love gardening ... because I do enjoy it, very much.  I am in my glory when I'm digging in the dirt and "tending" my flowers ... it's like therapy and one of my most favorite things to do when I'm not out taking pictures.  In fact, I've tried to instill a love of gardening in our granddaughter Avery Grace, since she was old enough to know what a flower is.  Here she is helping her great-granddaddy plant tomatoes when she was four ...

And planting Morning Glory seeds when she was five ... 

I have a very special gardening project that I'm looking forward to doing with Avery this coming weekend. So, perhaps, I am a gardener, after all ...  at heart, if not in the most literal sense.  And isn't that even better?