The Not-So-Green Thumb

I'm not afraid to say that I suck. I am downright horrible at keeping living things alive. Well, ok I take that back. I'm pretty good at keeping lil red thriving and going strong. So let me rephrase that. I suck at keeping plants alive. My track record is nothing to be proud of. I have no inherent ability to select the right flowers/plants....no knowledge of how often to water them to avoid over-saturating them....no idea which plants need shade/sun....and honestly zero motivation to buy plants just to watch them die. All I see are dollar signs withering away each day......

.......BUT NOT THIS YEAR!!!! I won't let it happen. The plants are much too pretty. Those poor plants probably cringed as they saw me pick them up at the nursery. "NO!!!! Not her!!! She sucks." Well pretty plants, no need to fear. I'm on a mission. I can feel my thumb turning greener by the day. Well, it's only been two days since they've been in the ground so I'm more than likely jumping the gun. The thing that frustrates me is this....how stinking hard can it be to keep a flower alive??!?!?! Why can't I seem to do that!?!?!

Of course I had my camera on hand the other night as we set out on a mission to plant all of the pretties that I picked up on Wednesday at JW's nursery. I'd been putting it off for a long time now...making excuses for why I couldn't pick out flowers yet. When my main reason was just that, yes you guessed it, I suck. But I couldn't put it off any longer. I had painstakingly picked out plenty of pots for the porches so Hal and I went to load up on flowers. To make this avoided task even better I waited to go at the last minute right before they were closing. This meant we had fifteen minutes to do a flower shopping spree in the greenhouse. Holy HOTNESS!!!! And lil red was not in the mood to walk so she stayed attached to my hip the entire trip while I pulled the wagon, held my ten ton purse and tried to keep the plants from falling out of the wagon. T'was a grand ol' time. No, it really was kind of fun. I couldn't wait to get home and get my hands dirty. Luckily Riley was ready and willing to get to work with us girls beautifying the porch.

So proud of all my new pretties....

After much agonizing decision making about pot placement (laugh) on Riley's part, I was more than ready to get going! So was Hal!!

"Let's get this show on the road!"

Hallie helped hand her dad the pots so that he could fill them with potting mix...

<3

But soon she realized that we didnt' have any free arms to hold her and that just wasn't gonna cut it....

"Plants, schmants!!! Somebody pick me up!!!'

We put her in charge of supervision which seemed to keep her busy momentarily...

I got on a roll and decided to plant this pretty little tulip.....

"I'm no TULIP!!!"

I was so relieved once everything was planted and bathing in it's new potting soil and a nice drink of water. Thrive, little plants, THRIVE!!! Listen to your momma!

Our next job to tackle was the side patio area that Riley recently updated. I'm not sure if "updated" is the correct word. More like ROCKED IT! He had the brilliant idea to create an area for a memorial garden for my mom. We had been debating about what to do with the area and I am thankful that he decided for us because making decisions is not my forte. Here is a before picture of the nonsense that was our side patio....

Here is a snap shot before I planted the boat-load of pretties in Grammy's memorial garden....

And here we have the after picture....

I'm just in love!!!!!

Next on my list of tasks is to find some perfect furniture for the grilling patio and order a sign that says "Grammy's Garden" to put in the ground. But for now I'm just thrilled with how everything turned out....

Hallie Grace has her very own watering can. Can we say "adorable"????? Adorable. Ok there, I said it.

"Grow pretties grow!"

She waits for me to fill up her can with my big can and giggles as she dumps it onto the flowers. Maybe this is the key to keeping them alive. My little gardener will help me!

I'm sure I'll be updating soon about the lives of our new friends.

Three days and counting and they are still alive.

Progress, PEOPLE! This is progress!!