You know how everyone carries, deep in the back of their mind, a picture of their "Dream House".. that gauzy daydream of the ultimate and perfect place to retire; unique to each person, but fun to envision all the same... For me, even though I'm a complete city-slicker, mine has always been a cozy stone cottage with a quiet bit of a lawn, with some trees.. maybe even by a creek... but the best part would be a big garden that surrounds the house; a controlled chaotic garden of flowers and ferns that I can cultivate and play in, and hide quirky little stone figurines among the greenery for my own amusement.
Not quite this, but you get the idea:
http://www.hampshirearts.org/artshow07/virtualart07.htm
A fabulous dream that makes me smile and I feel relaxed just thinking about it, however, truth be told, I've never been real skilled in the art of keeping plants alive. My last apartment was essentially a cave, so there wasn't much opportunity for any attempts there, but in my place before that, there were lots of windows, and I did try to grow some plants from seeds.......
but that was sort of a bust and ended with tiny, scraggly, and ultimately, very dead plants.
However, this past December, I got these little bulbs - Narcissus - that all you had to do was stick them in some water, add some rocks, and they would grow. Awesome!
They grew really fast, it was kind of exciting!
Though, a couple weeks into it, there was a little misadventure:
But was fixed by adding some water (note to self: plants like water)
I would've left them to grow longer, but the flowers (though pretty) were really very stinky, and the more they bloomed the more the house smelled.. so I threw them out.
But still, in the end, I felt like the experience was quite successful! This success, and a bobbled-headed planter begging to be filled with a pretty plant, gave me new confidence to renew my attempts in the growing of plants. While I don't currently have a lawn, this new place has LOTS of windows and wonderful natural light, so I am hopeful that (with some diligence and a little research) I might do a reasonable job of keeping things alive this time around.
Here are the beginnings of my indoor garden:
4 comments:
Woot! Yay for plants! I'm currently reviving a fern that I nearly killed with a lack of water. It's got tons of ugly brown branches... and now that I'm watering it again, it's also got some nice new green ones growing out of the middle. Amazing what a little water will do! You're fortunate that you don't have any cats. Cats really complicate having plants. Although I love my cats, I sometimes wish that I had more places to put some plants where they can't get them. Good luck on your growing --- and don't forget the water!
That is awesome! I should try that, I have the worlds brownest thumb-inherited from my parents, I may even be worse. Too bad for the smell, they looked very pretty.
So far so good :) The plants even survived my vacation! I think that's promising.. yay!!
Now I just wish it would get a little warmer.. even though we have heat and all, I suspect the plants will do better when there's longer times of sunlight and it's not quite as chilly.
Yay for green thumbs!! I think that I need to get some plants too! I miss having some green around the house!
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