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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

gardening

I've always loved flowers. They brighten up any space quickly! At my wedding we had potted flowers on the tables so they could be planted afterwards, and the outdoor venue was in full bloom.



The bummer though is I've never been good at caring for flowers. I've tried over the years to have hanging baskets, small pots, and various other "apartment friendly" foliage. I'm not exactly sure why i couldn't keep a single plant alive. The closest success I had were a few succulents, but even they didn't last.


This valentine's day my husband said he wanted to get me potted plants. He wanted something that would last longer than cut flowers and could adorn our beautiful and sunny porch. I was equally excited and frightened. How awful would it be when they were dead in 2 weeks :(  I decided to give it a go, be cheerful no matter what and head off to our favorite local nursery.


We spent over an hour in the flower department choosing from the hardiest plants we could find exactly the right color combinations. I came home, planted and watered them and then researched how to make them last.

Over two months later and they are FLOURISHING! I am proud to say they are alive and blooming and they are gorgeous in the lovely sunshine we've had! I have been trying to determine what exactly has been different this time around. Every afternoon when I come home i check on them. I pull out slugs, deadhead any scraggly blooms and check the moisture. It has become a part of my daily routine, to take a look and see what they need. It is so therapeutic to gently sift through the leaves and blooms and assess each pot. When the snails and slug became a bit of a bother, I put tea tree oil around the outside rim of the pots. It seems to be working, though it's probably time for some more.



I just love looking out the window and seeing all the colors. I hope I can keep up with tending to their needs and am excited to think that I am growing in my gardening skills :)  

This past week I got to add two more pots to the bunch! Some flowers for teacher appreciation week and a beautiful ceramic pot with strawberries!  To celebrate I bought a new spray nozzle for the hose. I'm armed and ready to for spring and summer gardening!

2 comments:

Amy said...

So lovely! You'll have to teach me your secrets (although it seems to me the main key is paying attention, a skill I severely lack with plants!).

Jess said...

Amy - you're right, it is paying attention, something I totally lacked! I just had to put them right in front of my face to find success ;) Let's schedule a gardening date!