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:
