Why I’m a Lousy Gardener

It was one year ago when I first put the flowering house plant into the ground. Now it’s a huge, pink tree. It, and its new offspring, are a favorite feast of snails. I know this because last spring snails were the bane of my existence.

Gardening experts told me I could get rid of the snail problem, once and for all, by baiting the snails very early in the springtime. I bought my bait and waited.

Then, in February, little holes in the yard began to appear. Hundreds of young armadillos were venturing out in the night to feast on snails. The armadillos had cute little pink snouts. How could I deprive them of their snail delicacies?

Now the armadillos have grown up and, for the most part, moved on. My garden is ravaged by snails. As I go to the shed to get the snail bait, a snail is climbing on the screen door.  The snail and I are face-to-face. The snail is so cute, with its little antennae.

More Lessons from the Garden

One of the great things about living in Florida is the ability to garden all year long. Of course, this is only my first year as a gardener, but I have already had some great successes.

It occurred to me that, at this point, I have yet to actually buy a plant. All of my current plants are propagated from plants that other people didn’t want or couldn’t take care of.

Some of my plants were here when I got here. There were two straggly hibiscus bushes in front of our house. At one time they might have been lovely. When I inherited them they looked hopeless. In fact, my neighbors told me they were hopeless.

It was more that I didn’t want the hassle of removing them that made me nurture them. I didn’t have any real love for them. I like unusual plants, and red hibiscus is pretty common here in Florida. They are also messy plants; they drop a lot of leaves.

Even though I was motivated by laziness and unenthusiastic about the flowers, I nurtured the hibiscus for almost a year. I pruned and fed, and waited.

As little as a month ago I was telling my neighbor I was getting ready to get rid of them. They just weren’t worth the trouble. But I didn’t give up. I continued to nurture them.

This morning they greeted me with huge, healthy blooms. They’ve boomed before, but the blossoms were sparse and small. Today’s blossoms are magnificent.

I learn so much from gardening. Today I learned that, regardless of the initial motivation, diligence and patience pays off.  I learned, too, that even common things can be uniquely beautiful. I learned that health and beauty go hand in hand. I also learned not to give up easily on living things.  We can often respond to nurturance. Sometimes it just takes a while!