Plant Killer Extraordinaire
I have a bad habit of killing plants. I don’t mean to. I start with the best of intentions, offering them fertilizer, water, and lots of sun. And my grandparents were farmers, so you’d think I would inherit the green thumb. Um, not so much.
So, it was with a fearless heart that I bought annuals at Home Depot the other day. I’m sure the other plants were quivering, screaming, “No! Don’t pick me! I’m not ready to die yet!” 
What, you think I’m kidding? In the past week, two of my plants committed suicide. No, really. I went to pull weeds and my gardenia bush was lying on its side, roots exposed. One of my double-knockout roses was also lying outside the flower bed. No animal tracks were evident.
My husband (engineer) claims that likely it was the combination of the ground freezing and thawing that made the root ball pop out of the ground (we had that strange weather where one day it was 40 degrees and the next 75 degrees). I choose to believe that my plants chose to find that Higher Path to Heaven, a place where their owner wouldn’t forget to water them or weed them.
But in spite of my losses, I am persevering. Here are a few shots of my garden for you to enjoy. Probably a week from now they’ll be dead and shriveled, but for now, they look okay.
How about you? Do you enjoy planting a garden, or do your plants try to commit suicide also?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 6:45 am | Viewed 3002 times
Suzanne Says:
I love gardening! And I think you must be pulling our leg cuz your gardens look gorgeous!
kacey Says:
Ha! And here I thought you were just the fish killer…
I don’t do plants. I always manage to kill them. I do have an african violet on my desk that I’m waiting to see how long it lasts.
beth Says:
Plants and I have a long, sordid history. I think, if plants have a mafia, I’m probably on the top 10 list for crimes against plant-manity. So I’ll give you a run for you money on that score.
I have these dreams of a container garden on my deck - I really really want to do it. But I just can’t see spending the money when I know at the end I’m just going to have a ton of containers filled with dirt.
That said, I think your garden looks lovely. (And I’d probably just replant the suicided plants..who knows, they might come back.)
LauraP Says:
Hey, plant disasters happen. Fact of life. Your garden is beautiful anyway.
Nicole Reising Says:
lol — your poor plants!!!!
Your garden looks great though! I love to garden and outside I seem to do well at keeping things alive. Not so in the house. I’ve pretty much given up there. 
Cole
Kelly Says:
I really enjoy gardening and wish I had more time to dedicate to it. I have lots of gardens around my small property - three in back and one in front. Each year I keep saying I’m going to revamp the layout but I just haven’t had the time to do it. Maybe this year…
Melissa Says:
Very nice landscaping!
I kill plants, too. I always have good intentions, but once it gets too hot, I don’t care anymore. I am NOT a hot weather person!
Melissa Mc Says:
I like the idea of gardening, but I never have time to do it. I kill about half the plants when I do get out there.
Heidi Dahlquist Says:
I thought I was the only one with a brown thumb…and I mean literally since my full name is Heidi C Dahlquist-Brown. I really do try not to kill the plants….I give them water every week, sunlight, and miracle grow. Although, we have an aloe plant a friend hgave me last fall and its had babies! I didn’t kill it.YEAH:snoopy:
I can really relate to you Michelle with the plants!
As for my yard, well, the azaleas do what they like. The crepe myrtles, we’ve groomed nicely so they look like well groomed trees and not unruly bushes. We lost our pear tree last fall in a Noreaster. Im actually grateful becasue now I have REAL grass in my back yard. The only problem with the grass is the fogs LOVE TO EAT IT!!!!! THey dont eat our neighbors, and they dont eat other people’s grass when we take them for walks. What I think happened was when we bought the house, there was a huge mint patch, surround with wooden beams. My hubbie, just yanked the beams out, not considering the mint opatch. WE also have small wild strawberry’s growing throughout the back yard. I think the dogs much on the grass like its dinner because they are eatting the strawberries and the mint which spread throughout the yard….Woof Woof as they would say. At least they semi fertilize the yard, which contains 3 HUGE 20 year old maple trees. Maple trees have horrible roots which make planting annulas difficult around the trees. Go figure. Id like an oak, ash, and hawthorn tree, to form my very own fairy circle of my own.
I think your backyard looks nice, Michelle. I like how the tree is the focal point with the pretty flowers. I’ll pray your plants chooose life over self inflicted injury.
I’m naive with plants and gardens but would love to grow a garden with herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, and pumpkins. I need help though, even though I spent my summmers on my uncles farm, bailing hay, feeding animals and planting crops….my knowledge of gardens in dire peril! Help!:cry:
Tori Lennox Says:
I love LOOKING at beautiful gardens, but no way could I actually create one.
jeanne s. Says:
I get in moods where I love it or hate it lol. I just got given a new Japanese maple for Easter that I’m trying to bring back to life after it’s new leaves got zapped by frost. I think your garden looks lovely.
mary beth Says:
Pretty!
I love planting flowers, and they love me too, for about a month. After that, they die.
April Says:
I’ve had a suicidal plant or two. But I still love to garden. And I’ve discovered a small dose of miracle grow can bring a plant back from the brink sometimes!
Rene Says:
I don’t do yard work. Not in my contract. Hubby has a green thumb, however. He loves working out in the yard. I love sitting outside and watching him while I sip a diet coke and read a magazine.
Holly Says:
I don’t do too bad with outdoor plants…it’s those that have to be brought in during winter that get forgotten, shrivel up and die on me..LOL I killed my Mother of Thousands this past winter and this past Sunday I set my small flower pot with my aloe out and it is brown and crying out for death to take it NOW.
I have good luck with irises, daylilies, tiger lilies, forsyntias and hosta because they are perennials and I only have to dig them up from time to time to spread them out. I also do ok with ivys, like periwinkle(vinca) and silver beacon and house leek and mosses. I can do okay with annuals like impatiens, coleus, verbena, dusty millers and rose moss(if I buy them already started, hehe). Petunias aren’t too bad either.
I got a few small rose of sharons from my mom last summer but frost and my hubby destroyed them(ran them over or buried them), so I’ll have to start over there. My rose bushes are mostly wild, but this year they are AWFUL looking because of the hard frosts and cold snap we had a few weeks back.
Last summer was my first veggie garden and I didn’t do too bad with cucumbers, yellow squash, okra and cantaloupe, but my tomatoes got blossom rot and our watermelons were nonexistent, other than the sugar babies I planted…will NOT plant them again because they’re nothing but seeds and too small to my liking. This year I’m adding a few other veggies to the garden~ corn, green beans, zucchini, green peppers, a larger variety of watermelon and pumpkins.
I’m growing a garden to help my 8 and 4 year olds understand WHERE our food comes from and how it grows. Good lesson for them that it doesn’t just “appear” at the grocery store.
I think your garden looks lovely and I would be tempted to replant the suicidal ones too, just to see if they’ll try to take again.
Best of luck and fingers crossed that a green thumb replaces the black thumb of death! hehe!