How to Cook Impatiens

One of the dangers of the location of my job is that it is relatively close to both a Barnes and Noble and a Lowe’s. Both are excellent ways to kill $50 bucks and a lunch hour. Several days ago I had a plant craving, an obsessive/compulsive urge to go out and buy a plant that I had stuck in my head. I found some beautiful pale pink impatiens at Lowe’s, full of flowers, for an area in the front yard. I bought them, then left them in the car while I returned to work. Well apparently, impatiens are not fond of 110 degree plus heat for four hours. This was the result. All isn’t completely lost. The one on the right looked just as bad as the others, but it is coming back. The others have small little shoots coming up. Interestingly, the lantana I bought and left in the car with the impatiens wasn’t fazed at all. That’s why I love it!

End of the Depression

It is unbelievable to me that I haven't entered anything since January. This blog thing can get away from you.

Basically, after the camellia post, a hard frost did hit. I lost everything almost to the ground, including my bird of paradise. I was too depressed to even take pictures. Everything I had worked for was brown and rotting. Too depressed to take pictures, too depressed to post. I know there are others out there who are still shoveling snow, but for my spoiled Floridian butt, this was traumatic.

Fortunately, the garden is perking up. The passion vine is blooming, the bird of paradise has beautiful new stalks and even the salvia is coming back with a vengeance. In fact, everything from the butterfly garden came back and the only plants I lost were the hibiscus and begonia and then not totally all of those. The crepe myrtle even came back. It was such a big investment for me last year, and took so long leaf out, that I was really worried.

Ultimately, I felt like the countless hours dreaming up garden plans and looking up plants on the Internet paid off. Pictures will follow soon.