The Aloes

Years and years ago, I bought one of those baby aloe vera plants from Home Depot. It died the same year. The next spring, I tried again. That one grew, and grew, and grew. As far as I knew aloe's were low maintenance and that's what I did. I watered it once a week and thats it.

Then she flowered. I wish now that I had taken a picture of it. She only flowered that one year. After she flowered, she started kicking out babies. I'd wait until the babies looked big enough to survive, then move them to their own pot. I kept her first two offspring. I've been waiting years for them to either flower or give babies. They haven't yet.

Momma Aloe though doesn't stop. I've replanted her babies and given them away so often. For reasons unknown to me, the babies keep dying at other people's houses. Last year, I started raising two babies for two family members. I decided to hang on to them after the stage where I would normally give them away. Well, they're not  growing well here either.

This year is the worst though. They all look so sad. I'm not really sure what to do...

The aloe in the shiny green pot is one of the original daughters.

The aloe in the middle there, in the flowered pot, is the other original daughter.


The planter on the left holds the latest batch of children transplanted in 2012. See, they're not growing well either...

I'm hoping these are going to be before pictures. I've looked up what I need to do and hope to be able to bring them all back to full health.

The lily, again!

A while back I posted about the lily my mother had planted by surprise. Alright, it was more than a while back, it was actually two years ago.

Well, last year, I dug up the lily and got rid of it. The way it was growing was affecting the rose bush and I wasn't having any of that!!

If you think you know what's coming next, you're only partially right.

Yes, the lily did grow back this year.

But, I bet you didn't guess that it brought friends with her.

Yes, lily and babies are growing in the planter now. I give up, for this year at least. I'm inclined to think that someone is repeatedly replanting lily bulbs just to mess with me. I *did* make sure to remove all the bulbs AND turned the soil when I dug it out last year. I just don't see how it possibly managed to come back this year with more friends?!?!?!?!

The Indestructible Lily

This is the indestructible lily plant. A year or two ago, as a surprise, my mother planted a lily bulb in my rosebush planter. I didn't know about it until it started to grow the following spring. I ripped it out and thought no more about it.

This spring, it grew again. When I went to pull it out, I realized there was another one growing alongside it. So I transplanted this one into a pot and left the smaller one with the roses. Look at it now, it's in full bloom.

To be honest, I know nothing about growing lilies, nor do I really care enough about them to look it up. I don't even really like lillies. I just had to snap this picture because it is pretty, isn't it?


Once again my mother has proved "Momma really does know best!"

My roses

The family that lived in this house before us built a huge planter onto the deck. It's perfect for roses, in my opinion. Some years back, I bought the cutest little rose bush. Every year now it grows and blooms the nicest roses. All with minimal care. Some days I do wonder what it would look like if I ever did more than trim it back and water it now and then.

My dollar store flowers

Not a new photo. These flowers WERE planted in my front yard. Believe it or not, I had found the plants at the dollar store. Cute right?

Well, one morning, I went outside and the neighborhood rabbit had dug these up for me. What else was there to do but bring them in and put them in a vase.

You have to admit, they are pretty.

The Dahlia

I absolutely adore the colors on this dahlia. I got this plant in 2009 and have never seen another dahlia this color since.