I have two plants.
If you are a gardener, you may laugh now.
But to me, this seems like a big commitment–I already have two children, can I take on the care and feeding of plants? I’ve seen other perfectly healthy flowers come home with me in the past, only to gradually wither and die. I just don’t seem to have the instinct or the intuition for green things. I don’t understand them. Can you acquire a green thumb or is it innate?
The food market I shop at has suddenly turned their outer courtyard into a veritable greenhouse. Innocently there to buy produce I had not grown or harvested myself, I was, nevertheless, enticed by the verdant beauty everywhere. So, in a mad spirit of optimism, I bought a big lavender plant (babies are fragile creatures, I reasoned; this bushy English Lavender looked hardy and thus had a reasonable chance of surviving me) and a beautiful clematis (some blooms; some buds; instant and future gratification so I don’t neglect it or give up in despair).
It’s fascinating how a couple of potted plants–one energetically putting forth purple flowers and the other emanating the most sublime fragrance from its mauve stems, alter the atmosphere of a concrete deck. Although we are certainly not lacking in green around here, living in a rainforest on the west coast of Canada where the maple leaves and evergreen needles tower high into the sky, but these newcomers are a welcome addition.
So now my teenage son is building a flower box and measuring how much trellis will be required for a projected healthy growth spurt. In the meantime, I’m keeping an eye on them and hoping that with a little help from the internet, they will flourish:
I am most encouraged by a comment someone left three years ago:
After two unsuccessful tries, my third attempt at growing clematis vines has been amazing. I planted 3 different varieties next to each other about 2 feet apart, Surrounded the roots with stones and supplied a lattice fence for growth. I did nothing else – did not fertilize – did not cut back – didn’t mulch – didn’t even water. I am not a gardener by nature. My clematis are so beautiful, people drop by just to see them. They even bloom on both sides of the latticework. Hurray for me. Probably an accident, but that’s my story.
Perhaps I can be an accidental gardener.
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