My brother inherited a green thumb and the skill of great cooking from my mother. I inherited her nose and a stubborn personality. This is not good news for my garden. I love flowers. I love the way they look, smell, inspire. I have no idea what their names are or when, how and where to plant them. When Andy & I got married, our signature flower (did you know you needed a signature flower?) was the Sunflower because other than the Rose, it was the only flower we both knew by name and thought was pretty.
So when Boston was hit with a heat wave this past weekend, I decided to take a tour of our garden beds and look for signs of life. Since we moved into our home almost 6 years ago I have only planted things that come back on their own. I leave the rest in planters to fill in the gaps and re-use the potting soil the following year to help out the newbies. But because we did a lot of construction I haven't yet gotten a real plan for landscaping. My goal this year is to have the hardscaping finished this summer so that once and for all we can have a plan for delightful spots for all those pretty flowers I don't know the names of.
Until then, I am forced to straighten up the few existing spots we have. This involved lots of raking, weeding and pain. I don't know why you gardeners find this hard work to be an enjoyable hobby. But if any of you live in the Boston area feel free to come on by and practice your hobby at our house. This is the best I could do...
BEFORE AND AFTER OF PATIO GARDEN:
Just look at those green sprouts I uncovered! I have no idea what they are but things that are green growing on their own are encouraging - provided they aren't weeds.
BEFORE AND AFTER OF SIDE GARDEN:
Wowee - I uncovered a lot of sprouts underneath all those leaves! I think they are Hostas which I transplanted before we did construction on the house. It gets very shady over here so not a lot thrives.
BEFORE AND AFTER OF FRONT YARD CORNER BED:
This front bed is so crammed with plantings that I'm not sure what exactly lives here. Some Day Lillies, among other options. This is where I plant anything my mother sends home with me because it is focal from the front drive and has been safe from changes.
BEFORE AND AFTER OF SIDE OF HOUSE:
All I did here was rake. I know these are all Hostas. They were here when we got here, and they survived all of the addition construction. They give our neighbors something pretty to look at - aside from the big dumpster that has been sitting in this section since the fall waiting for the shed project to be complete.
PROOF AND REWARD:
Notice the Band-Aid on my thumb. Evidence of my hard day's work. Didn't keep me from holding that cold one in my hand. Nothing can stand between me and a well deserved reward.
Stay tuned for future updates on our garden developments. If you have any planting suggestions for my brown thumb please share! Our Comments section and Bumble Town are ready and waiting to learn from all of you green thumbs, florists and landscapers.
14 comments:
I love gardens, but sometimes dread the work involved.
This year I have to rip up some viney thing in the front flower bed that just overtook everything and divide a bunch of hosta for a plant sale committee I'm on.
We cut down a tree last year and I'm looking forward to more sun and VEGGIES...
Your yard is HUGE....
There's not much space here for a proper garden of any variety, and an awful lot of shade (we live on the Dark Side of the street, bwahaha).So yes, I have lots of hostas as they seem to be indestructable. Planted today some daffodil bulbs dug up by my sibling who was excavating at my parents'. Bets are open on whether they "take." However, we do have a good back deck on which I grow herbs in pots, which is a yummy way to feel like a gardener--and they're low maintenance!
Gorgeous yard!
Yeah, your sprouts look to be hostas, probably the easiest thing on the planet to grow besides weeds. I say kudos to you for making a clean slate. Too bad I don't live near you...I'd come over and lend a hand and let you borrow my gazillion gardening magazines, which of course, would only serve to confuse you even more! ;)
We spent one hard weekend in the garden and now there are flowers everwhere.... a lot of money gone and I'm walking on eggshells trying to keep them alive!!!!
I love the title of this post and laughed while reading your post. Molly I am in that same boat as you. I love flowers etc but i don't have a sinlge ounce of a green thumb in me. Trust me i can kill plants LOL
I am like you a tend to have stuff in my flower beds that grow year after year and to fill in the spots I buy flowers and just plant them in the beds.
Thankfully I have a husband who loves to do that and is content with me showing him where I want things and he takes care of them.
I am in Canada (montreal) if anyone wants to come and work on their hobby here. LOL
I basically have a BLACK thumb, but luckily everything grows in Florida, whether you want it to or not. Way to go on all of your hard work! You know the beer always tastes better after something like that!
On Fun was great fun. I hope you've learned there is no such thing as a green thumb. Good gardening results are due to lots of hard work. It's the bandage on the thumb that's the real symbol. You got it.
Green is definitely not the term I'd use for my thumb. Well, not exactly. If you could see the front flower beds of my house you know that I can grow a weed like there's no tomorrow. The scary things is that I don't really care. Let the darn weeds take over - at least they're green.
The gardens are looking good! I wish I had the green thumb gene, but I just don't :(
looks good. I like annuals better than perennials--not so much work and the beds can be cleared out and tilled at the beginning and end of the seasons. I also like roses. they require deep water and a little pruning but are colorful from May to October.
We have a small garden around our mail box that was getting quite messy. I finally had enough and bought new flowers two days ago. We pulled up all the old stuff and planted the new. It was worse than I'd thought. And my husband got mad that I pulled up the old, messy stuff.
Now I need to work on the garden along the walkway to our front door.
LOL ...brilliant !
Your garden looks like my vegie patch.
The weeds grow well here and the roses OMg thrive on neglect, my stalks are 3m tall.
Those pictures of the pots sure look familiar to me! My mom has a phenomenal garden and taught be everything I would need to know to have a similar one. Alas, I did not get the green thumb. I manage to kill just about everything I come into contact with!
I have a brown thumb. Any living plants, inside and out, are due to Jason's diligence.
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