Today's Challenge - Green Thumb

Yeah! It's Cloudy!

Ok,  I was waiting for a cloudy, cooler day to tackle today’s challenge. 

I want to “beautify” the smoking area at work. No, I don’t smoke, but some of the employees do and some of the customers do too.  I went out to the area to talk to them and was like, WTF? This place is bad. It’s not dirty, they all pick up the butts and all, just meh.  So I put a bench, some chairs, a small table out there. Now I would like a few plants to finish it. 


But it's already so hot that I needed to wait for a cooler day to purchase plants and repot them.  

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So off I go to the Garden Nursery

lots of colors

Marigolds

Marigolds are pretty, but cannot take our heat.

I wanted color and texture

But this is pretty too.

And this...

Quite a bit to choose from..

Also cannot take the heat long :(

But are pretty

I was like WTF? this is a small FIG tree

But I guess they know since this is the price!

Diptic (I took ALL these photos with my Iphone) BTW

Sweet Basil

Up Close

This is an Herb I cook with at home all the time. (I have 2 plants at home) and decided I was just going to buy this and a begonia and call it a day already. The sun came out & it was getting really warm.
Begin to melt now..  *____ *

Begonia

Sweet Basil

If you WANT A GREEN THUMB:

The trick to getting MOST plants to live is this. Repot them as soon as you get home. Do not WAIT. They are shipped in peat moss and the lightest weighing materials that DO NOT hold Water or offer room for the plants to grow. Repot immediately and read the label about sun exposure and how much water they need and your plants should do fine with a little TLC.

RANT (Skip if you could care less about plants & $$)

It’s one of my pet peeves when local stores sell plants that DO NOT GROW in our climate. It’s one thing to sell seasonal plants (like impatiences and marigolds) it’s another to sell something that is going to die in a day like bleeding hearts. A man brought me a lovely hanging basket last year that was a Bleeding heart. He paid $50USD + for it and I told him to take it back.  It should not be sold in South Texas in JULY. He called the store and they told him it would do fine, just water it. Well anyone that knows plants knows that's just a crock of shit. He took it to his house and it was dead within 24 hours due to our heat.  WTF?! Why they want to be SO CROOKED! 


Ok rant over-Back to normal now, sorta anyway... :0


I repotted the Basil

And another plant that had outgrown its pot

Now 2 plants

dressed it up a little

Had this 4-ever. I bought it many moons back on a drunken Mexico trip..

by the bench

So the sweet basil will last in our climate (with care) it cost $4.00USD and the Begonia was .98! The pots, dirt and other stuff I already had. So it didn't cost much and hopefully it will be brighter & nicer for our smokers a little.

Later-  

Please enjoy the Sun and all its hotness :)