Gardening 101

Well, the story of a hopeless gardener begins here:
I promised I would write about the ranuculas that I planted with my friend Diane. Well actually that isn't quite true. Let's just say that she is the gardener and I am a great admirer of those who can make things bloom, grow, and tend to garden beautifully. I am a "wannbe gardener" but just don't have the drive, or ambition to do all that labor intensive stuff. Plus, I am not wild about weeds, dirt under my nails, sunburn, fungi, and bugs or creepy crawly things. Then there is the watering, fertilizing and weather to worry about. I guess it comes down to..."it's a lot of work." But I sure love the flowers that God has orchestrated to bloom. So many beautiful blossoms, in every shape and color, with many different perfumes all their own, and all through the year!

Now about those darn ranuculas. Here's the story: About 18 to 20 months ago, I decided to go to our local nursery and pick up some bulbs to plant before the end of fall. Well, I got the tulips planted and for some reason I delayed planting the ranuculas. I think I was actually going to call Diane in Oregon and ask for some pointers about where and when to plant them. Well, I never called her and so my ranuculas just sat in the garage for a season or two. Then Diane and her husband came for a visit recently, right after we had cleaned out the garage and I set those ranuculas in plain view to get planted while Diane was here. Oh, one more thing: I had decided they needed to be frozen in the freezer section of the refrigerator in order to get them to bloom, so for about 2-3 weeks I had put them in my freezer. Okay, when Diane heard everything I had done to those poor ranuculas she cracked up! It turns out they should have been planted right away and you should never freeze them. Well how would I know that? Anyway, we went to the local nursery and they said you can try and plant them and see what happens...so my dear sweet friend Diane, did just that. She planted them in less than 5 minutes and told me to be sure they get water..."yes ma'am!" That was about 2 weeks ago now. So far, nothing has happened, but I sure am hoping. My job is to make sure they get their water. Which I have been pretty good about--which is a surprise even for me. I always start out with good intentions, but then somewhere along the way, I just forget or get too busy. I have my fingers crossed though that those ranuculas are going to bloom just for me. Sure hope so. So for the novice gardener: first rule of the green thumb...plant your flowers right away, that way no one will laugh at you 2 years later.

That ends the tale of the ranuculas for now, but check out my next escapade in gardening that I did last Friday. It was a "spark"ling performance to say the least.