Beautiful blooming flowers can cheer, encourage and uplift people's faces, spirits and hearts. I know many folks are champion gardeners who coax and nurture amazing blooms to life. There will be many gorgeous flower photos to enjoy as a result of this challenge.
However, as a self-confessed brown thumb, I have to admit I felt discouraged before even attempting to write an entry for this "MAY 2023 CHALLENGE - Shower Power: Flaunt Your Fabulous Blooms Brought to Life by April Showers!"
While I enjoy flowers, I did not inherit my late mother's green thumb. She literally seemed to coax even recalcitrant plants into blooming magnificently. Instead I seem to have what I jokingly refer to as a brown thumb. As in, "If you need a plant killed off, just send it my way."
Maybe it's not quite that bad, but somehow I just don't have that knack for getting flowers to bloom-or even keep plants alive.
However, when examining the photos in the contest images, I realized I have kept at least two flowering plants alive-including the red camellia in the courtyard that was here when we bought our house 27 years ago! Even though it's suffered from aphids, it is still here and blooming annually.
One other "success story" is our abundant fuchsia bougainvillea. We installed it around our children's bedroom windows and our front porch. While gorgeous, it has large thorns that discourage folks from climbing in or around them. One of my clients taught me the secret to growing bougainvillea years ago. "Plant them in sunshine, then ignore them." That advice has resulted in a plethora of blooms we need tout back annually.
There are three other "blooms" I've successfully grown-although technically they are herbs. Since their first year, our lavender and rosemary in front and thyme in back replicate without any effort. In fact, my husband recently had to take the weed whacker to cut back the thyme so we could more easily access the rest of the back yard.
One other successful bloom is actually the aloe plant. While I successfully planted several in our front yard, the ones in planters did not survive.
When all else fails, a sneaky rose makes its way through the neighbor's lattice to give me hope.
Thanks for reading "Even a Brown Thumb Blooms Flowers Sometime."
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