I do not do a lot of gardening. We have a grand total of four outdoor planters that I tend to during the warmer months of the year–two in a shady spot and two in a sunny spot. There’s also an apple tree in a large planter on our patio that through no fault of my own is actually still alive and anxiously awaiting the return of it’s rightful caretakers, aka Ron’s parents. Beyond that there are a total of four houseplants that I manage to keep alive despite neglect and/or over-watering. They are forgiving plants.

Two or three years ago I bought some coleus plants to put in our two outdoor shady planters and the plants really flourished there. So, at the end of the season I took some cuttings from the plants and attempted to keep them alive indoors in little planters through the winter, and lo and behold I did. In fact the plants or at least their descendants are still more or less thriving. Last year I took five separate cuttings figuring not all of them would take when transplanted indoors into the small flowerpots, but like our houseplants this coleus plant is forgiving and now I have five plants even though I need only two to stick in our outside planters.

This week I have begun the process of getting the plants acclimated to the cooler outdoor air. My very unscientific method for getting the plants adjusted to being outside again is to stick them outside during the day then take them in at night. They have just about overgrown their little planters and the weather here looks like it will be safe to get them moved into their summer digs soon. I still don’t know what I’m going to do with the extra three plants I now find myself in possession of.

My coleus conundrum reminds me of my grandmother and her violets. Grandma was always taking cuttings from violet plants and then growing those so that at some point she had amassed quite a collection of violets who lived on a variety of plant racks and any sort of flat surface she could find in her dining room along with some other houseplant descendants. Periodically Grandma would bring some of her violets over to the church to be sold at the bazaar.

My own experience with violets is that they are not nearly as forgiving as the other plants in this house. I managed to kill the only violet plant I ever had. So, Grandma’s gardening skills are not exactly hereditary. At least the coleus plants put up with my meager skills.

Soon they will be happy to be put back in their nice big outdoor spot so that they can spread their wings and grow all big and leafy. By mid to late summer they should be looking something like this:

I am impressed by all of you out there who are avid gardeners. Once in awhile I think it would be cool to grow my own vegetables, but then I remember I live in deer country so growing vegetables would mean having to also build some sort of enclosure to protect the crops from the hungry neighbors, which is about when I remember that just over a mile from our house is a local farm store where for a reasonable price I can pick up an assortment of fresh produce. Keeping a few ornamental plants alive in some planters on the patio is definitely more my speed.

So for those of you who dabble in the gardening arts I wish you a very good growing season. And I wish everyone a happy Easter and/or Passover!

— Alissa

This week’s inspiration:

What I’m reading: All Fours by Miranda July

What I’m listening to: “Natural Woman” by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

What I’m watching: North of North