Greenthumb Greenhorn

To my excitement yesterday, I came out onto my balcony and noticed the first bloom of my Snapdragon. It’s white flower had apparently exploded out of the bloom and was shyly showing its face to the world. In this container I have a white snapdragon and four white petunias. I’m quite excited to see how it will come along.

After waking up late today, I walked out onto the balcony again and saw that more plants were beginning to show their colors. That is pretty rewarding and goes to show that even a man who burns popcorn regularly can water his plants sufficiently.

It has been warm here recently as the average day temperature this week was probably around 78 degrees and we had a lot of sun. I’ve backed off the watering from once every day and a half to once every two days and they seem to appreciate that. That was one of the things I was a bit worried about. My first experience in gardening was house sitting for my grandparents last summer. The Midwest was experiencing very high temperatures, very little rain, and a lot of dying plants. My grandmother had spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on beautiful plant design, and was entrusting it to me while on a cruise in the Mediterranean.

Because of the heat, I looked at the top of every pot and the ground in every bed and figured because it was dry, the plant must be thirsty. I watered in the morning prior to the heat’s arrival and in the early evening when the head had subsided. The plants were still shriveling and and hiding. I went to the library to research the drinking habits of all the plants she had. I followed watering patterns that were suggested, to no avail.

It was a bit of a joke to the family that I was so worried about these plants, and by the time of my grandparents arrival I was sure they were all dying or dead. But when my grandmother had looked around, she was very happy with their current state. The plants know how to survive in the heat, and I had not apparently drowned them in water. I did alright.

Still worried about my watering habits, I have read tips from putting one’s finger a few inches in the dirt to buying small automatic watering cans. The whole idea of me starting this gardening hobby was to keep me busy (and obviously for the spoils of a garden) during the summer months. I am a 27 year old student studying to be an Elementary educator who has summers and will continue to have summers off. Maintaining a no work garden seems a bit silly in my situation. Insert finger into dirt.

I’m going for a walk today at a small park in my area. I don’t expect to find many plants or flowers that will fascinate me, but I’m taking my camera with.

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I will be visiting the Lilly Gardens this week and hope to take some very nice pictures. I will post about my visit and show photos of the plants I really enjoyed. The Lilly Gardens, the same family as Lilly Pharmaceuticals, lies on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (or maybe the other way around).

It is exceptionally nice to the wallet as it costs nothing in terms of admissions. The feet are sore at the end of the day, but it stays very relaxed, and quiet, and there are plenty of areas to sit and watch people as they pass.