Planting season

I don't know why I want to write about plants and flowers, but I do. Perhaps it's because I decided I had to post about something and when I looked up from the computer I saw one of my houseplants...that probably needs watered again.


I am so very bad about keeping plants and flowers healthy. That's why I've never purchased a houseplant. But, over the years since I've had my own household, I've acquired quite a few plants. And I think so far I've managed to keep maybe half of them alive. I'm not sure what I do or don't do to the plants to ensure their untimely deaths, but it happens. I suppose part of this could be a little neglect on my part, but just a little.


I don't like anything that takes more maintenance beyond a little water and sunshine. And at that the 4 houseplants I currently have only get watered maybe once a week. I only get to them when the one is drooping completely. It always seems to perk right up within a few hours after I moisturize it's tender roots.


Why do I even have this many plants if they just annoy me so much, you might ask. Well, they've all been given to us for one reason or another. One lovely Peace Lily was given to us by my parents when Matt's grandmother died. They had it sent to the funeral home, then when everything was over we were able to take it home. Another small plant is from that funeral as well. Then there is a big basket with several smaller plants in it that was given by my parents when Matt's other dear grandmother passed away last year. And finally I have another small plant that my grandmother gave me after I had Zachariah. So, I guess I feel a bit obligated to keep these houseplants alive. Otherwise it would be so long plants.

We also have some outdoor plants and flowers, but Matt does most of the maintenance on these. I have never been too interested in planting. I do like a few perennial flowers that are low maintenance. So, I have daisies that have grown and grown more every year. They are just starting to grow this year. But they will be blooming like crazy in a few weeks. They are great, because I love daisies. I also have a few Asiatic Lilies. Those are very low maintenance and beautiful. Matt planted a few annuals this year that I picked out too. It was his idea to plant them, so I let him. But he let me choose what I wanted, because it didn't matter much to him. I like them right in front of our porch where they are. I see them when I leave the house, but I don't want to do all the work to keep up with them. (I guess I'm lazy when it comes to yard work.)

Matt also has a big vegetable garden. We built a raised-bed garden about 5 years ago. I helped build it and it was great fun. But when it came to planting...all Matt's. He's done a lot of different things. Last year we did not plant anything, mostly because we had a newborn in our house that was occupying most of our time. This year Matt decided to go simple, so he just planted 4 different tomato plants, 4 bell peppers, 2 jalapenos, and 2 banana peppers. So, we'll get just enough things off of those.

We also have a cherry tree on our property as well as wild raspberries and some potted strawberries. We didn't get any cherries this year, because they bloomed too early. We just put in the strawberries, so we've only gotten a few little berries off of it. Zachariah thinks they are the best thing ever, and he checks for new berries every time we walk by them. Our raspberries are going crazy right now. They only get teeny tiny little berries, so we can't do a lot with them. But we've been picking them for a week now. Zachariah also loves these. He says Mmmm Mmmm as we pop the little berries into his mouth. So these simple plants I don't mind so much.

The other flower/plant that I don't mind are my roses. I have 3 beautiful rose bushes. Matt keeps them watered for me, and I take care of weeds and pruning for them. They start blooming in May and keep blooming until it snows in Oct. or Nov. or whenever that may happen here. About 4 years ago we had a really warm, mild fall, and those roses bloomed until the middle of Dec. It was neat. I love going out and seeing my beautiful blooming roses. I have red, yellow, and white with pink.

So, what kind of plants or flowers do you have? Do you enjoy gardening? Or is that a chore left for someone else?