Black thumb...

It certainly is no secret that I have a little bit of trouble keeping plants alive. On a good note, though, I've been quite successful at keeping a dog and a baby alive :) Every year I plant flowers. I don't know what they are called and usually pick them out based on the color or if they look sturdy enough to handle me. And every year, they don't make it past July. It's hot out, I'm busy, the plants don't water themselves. Dead flowers. I know it's less of a "black thumb" and more laziness and I simply stop caring.

The thing is - I forget to water the flowers. I think they are pretty and like that they make our porch look better. It's just...I have better things to do with my time. I could be cleaning my kitchen, cooking, baking, reading a magazine. I don't enjoy "gardening", but I most definitely enjoy the fruits of the labor of gardening (but obviously not enough to labor over them. ha!). I'm glad that gardening is not a requirement for homemaking and more of a hobby. I think I'll stick to working out or baking as my hobby :)

This year, I think that watering will be easier to remember for two reasons:
#1

The new porch swing. Mainly because my child loves being outside and will calm down as soon as we step onto the porch. Handy trick, I'd say. But when I'm sitting on that swing, just looking around, I have a clear view of my flowers. This makes me think that watering them will come a little more

#2

Yes. The cops are another reason I'll be watering more. They sit on our street, very close to our house to catch stop sign runners. I'm a huge fan of this because people rarely make full stops at the stop signs near our house. (obeying traffic laws is another soap box of mine. I'll leave that for another day.) So, I like to pretend Benjamin is fussy and go outside and wait and watch with them. And sometimes they pull people over on our road, so I'll go outside to "water my plants" :) What a nosey neighbor I am!

Anyways. These are the two things I planted this year. I like them and most of the flowers are doing well. The tiny little flowers (with a name, I'm sure) are kinda of surviving. Some like the dirt, the others don't really. Luckily, you can't see them very well :)

These are the hanging baskets I chose for this year:
The pinkish red one is called a petunia. Apparently, they are survivors. I know this because I didn't water it for three days, nor did I bring it in when we had a frost warning for two nights in a row this week and it's fine! The yellow and white flowers are called annuals. My mom says that this is the category they are in, but the tag clearly says "Annuals" as the name. I left the tag on there for her to look at when she comes to visit. It brings me much satisfaction when watering these baskets and water comes gushing out of the bottom holes. I know then that I'm capable and they got enough and I can move on to the next plant.

I'll keep you updated on this endeavor of mine. Also, I'll post some pictures of the incredible garden my husband made in our back yard. If it weren't for him, nothing of plant life would survive our home :) I appreciate that about him.