Love of Gardening vs. Black Thumb

I try. I really do. Since I was a child, I have planted things in pots and put them in windows. Put seeds in the ground. Walked around gardening centers and come home with pretty flowers. And they usually die.

I'm not kidding. My husband is amazed. Frankly, I'm amazed. Those gardening books do no good.

But here's what I've found. Some plants are fool proof. So you know what I do? I plant and plant and plant. And about 10% of what I plant either stays there because it's just stubborn, or I actually figure out how to make it grow.

So here are our success stories.

BTW, take careful note of Vanna (oh...I mean Grace). She's my model for the day. I just couldn't stand how cute she was with the glasses.



Tomatoes, I have learned. I still can't make enough, even with 20 plants!!!, to provide us with enough. Thankfully, we have a gentleman at church who loves to bring me a giant box each week! But my tomato plants live and not only that, they make tomatoes!!!!



I've also fallen in love with herbs, and the best thing is, they are hard to kill. Here Grace is in our herb garden. We have sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and chives. My favorite is by far the chives. They flower!!! And when we have baked potatoes or any potatoes (!) I sent the children out with scissors and they cut me chives. Fresh and free!!! I love it! The BEST thing (are you all paying attention???) is that they are all perennials. I do nothing and they come back every year and make free food!!!



This last picture doesn't deserve recognition yet, as I haven't had a chance to kill it. It's untried. But it's so much fun that I couldn't stand it. I bought this tree for $5 at the Birmingham Botanical plant sale in the spring. Do you know what it is? A BAY TREE!!! All of those leaves are bay leaves waiting to go in stew! Do you know what that means? I'll never buy bay leaves again! So for $5, I get bay leaves for the rest of my life.

For the record, I've also found success with daylilies and daffodils (you can't kill them! They bloom, they die, they bloom again). Also hostas are my best friends. All of these plants propagate themselves (can you tell I love free?) so they make more and more and I can spread them out. This post is too long, but if you have a plant you can't kill and is rather pretty, then share! I'd love some new ideas!