Black Thumb No More!

So if you know me well, you know I can't keep a plant alive to save my life. I've kept a peace lilly alive for a small period of time but eventually it tires of me not giving it a drink of water.  Or I've also killed them by over-watering, another side effect of the black thumb.  One time, my friend, Beth Ann at work was leaving for vacation and she had this plant that one of her former students gave her. She had it sitting on her desk all alive and pretty.  She mistakenly asked me to keep it alive while she was on vacation....to just water it and give it a little sun while she was away.  Y'all....I sat that plant outside for a little sun and totally forgot about it.  I killed her special plant on the first day of her vacation.  BLACK THUMB.

I have always wanted to have a green thumb but not enough to remember to water something to keep it alive. Well something clicked inside of me this Mothers Day and I decided I wanted some plants for my front porch and for the top of my mailbox.  I was determined to keep them alive.  My sister gave me this beautiful pot full of flowers for my mailbox on Mothers Day, a few years back.  I did keep it alive for a little while but eventually forgot to give it water every day.

Some friends of ours opened a local Garden Market so we headed over for Mothers Day to pick out some plants.  Michelle probably thinks I'm crazy because I was asking the most basic questions and really had no clue.  She gave me a pep talk and made me feel like I COULD keep plants alive. She made it sound so easy. :)

And what do ya know...I have!!  I'm so proud of myself and have truly enjoyed watering these plants every day.  I told Alex that if I can keep these alive this summer, I'm going to attempt a small garden of veggies next year.  Very small.  I just think how fun it would be to grow my own food and eat it!  I could live off tomatoes and cucumbers in the summer.

My nephew, Pryce came over and was my assistant in potting the flowers.  This is the first time I've ever done this.  I was so excited.  I know all you seasoned green thumbs are laughing your heads off right now but this was a huge deal. (ha!)

Sydney was a big helper too.

So here's a picture of my flowers the first day.

And here they are today!  Dare I say they look BETTER than when I first planted them?

Here are my front porch plants.  Love having some color out there!

I'm going to tackle my deck next.  I want some tropical hibiscus trees in each corner and some flowers and mint that hang over the edge of the deck railing.  Mint supposedly keeps the mosquitoes away (thanks for that tip, Aunt Sandi) so I hope it will help when we're out on the deck in the evenings!

If you have any tips for me - ya know, from one green thumb to another, feel free to leave me a comment. :)

Love to all,