Actually, mine are red, pink, purple, peach and white. And my daffodils never bloom until summer so I’ve got yellow flowers, too.
Deb Kastner here, plugging along on another tight book deadline and enjoying the beautiful colors of summer. On temperate days I’ll sit outside with my notebook and write. Yes, I write most of my books with pen and paper. Prehistoric, I know.
I’m grateful for a husba
nd who gets out and does the mowing and weeding, even in the sweltering heat, because as much as I adore flowers, I don’t like digging in the dirt. It’s—well—dirty. And there are insects. And even if none of the above was true, plants run when they see me coming.
Black. Thumbs.
No, seriously. I bought marigolds and petunias to help the grandkids plant in a small triangular plot. The petunias died. In one day. One. Day. The poor marigolds are on their last legs.
My best girlfriend, on the other hand, absolutely adores being outside. Her garden is her happy place. She enjoys the doing the work as much as appreciating the outcome. She has arches and trellises and landscaped flower beds.
I appreciate people like my Lisa and my husband. The world would be a colorless place without flowers. I love and am thankful for God’s creation. It inspires me when I’m working on my own garden—the one I landscape with words.
Just don’t ask me to play in the dirt.
What about you? When it comes to gardening, are you green thumbs up or black thumbs down?
Deb Kastner‘s latest release is The Cowboy’s Surprise Baby from Harlequin Love Inspired.
~~Love Courageously~~ Publisher's Weekly Bestselling, award-winning author of 30 novels, Deb Kastner enjoys writing contemporary inspirational western stories set in small communities. She feels especially blessed to be able to include faith as a natural and genuine part of her characters' lives. Deb lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband and a pack of miscreant mutts. She is blessed with three adult daughters and two grandchildren. Her favorite hobby is spoiling her grandchildren, but she also enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to music (The Texas Tenors are her fav), singing in the church choir, and exploring the Rocky Mountains on horseback.
I love the *idea* of gardening. But I’m with you on all of the aspects you mentioned. Dirt? Yuck. Bugs? Ewww. Black thumbs? Yep, and fingers, and toes and…I’m half convinced that I have some kind of weird magnetic field that kills growing things when I get within six feet of them. But I do love walking through a garden and appreciating everyone who worked so hard to get them that beautiful.
Oh, Elizabeth, I laughed out loud at the magnetic field comment. Seriously. I can kill anything green. I’m happy to know I’m not the only one.
We live rurally, and through the years have established a half dozen beds that contain shrubs, perennials, and a few trees. That’s the part I like — the designing and planting. The maintenance part gets short-shrift. Every summer I plant up a few pots and baskets with annuals for the deck, and just keeping them watered challenges me. When it comes to houseplants, I like the effect of the greenery, but the only kind I can keep alive are Pothos. They remind me that they’re overdue for watering by looking dead. When their leaves curl up, I hasten to put them in the sink and give them a good soaking, and they always revive. So no, even though I like plants and gardens, I don’t have a green thumb.
I love to grow flowers, but here in the AZ desert, it’s hard. I’ve managed to keep some vinca alive. Not only does the heat get the flowers but the rabbits, too. They must not like vinca, but they’ve eaten everything else down to the root.
Hi Deb! I’m a lot like you….although I don’t mind getting dirty and bugs don’t bother me that much. However, I am NOT a plant/flower/gardener person! I do have one mother’s-in-law tongue (snake plant?) that I’ve had well over 10 years that hasn’t died yet…..even though I forget to water it quite often :-) It was my mom’s first, then when she moved out of the country, my sister inherited it and somehow I ended up with it (I have no idea how). My dad was very much a green thumb, so I evidently didn’t inherit that trait! He had terrariums full of plants, hanging spider plants galore and I’m not sure what all else….our house looked like a jungle…lol! I DO admire a nicely landscaped yard, however. Guess my job here on earth, is to appreciate others beauty :-)
I’d much rather be in my kitchen crafting new recipes and dishes….and I don’t mind the mess at all!!
Bugs…they eat me alive. Add to that my distinct dislike of sweat, dirt under my fingernails, and spiders (which are in a class of their own separate from bugs), and that might explain why I’ve never taken to gardening… ;)