Earl had to die.

When the Dixie Chicks first became popular, I was a fan. "Goodbye Earl" was one of my faves because it just made me laugh. About the time that song came out, I was in college & my roommate & BFF, Jan, and I bought some decor for our new apartment. We bought this awesome corn plant & decided to name him Earl, because we left him in the car & it got hot and he wilted & we thought he died. Anyway, that was about 8 years ago and I still have Earl! However, over the past month or so, he has been fading fast. I have no idea what suddenly caused him to become ill, but it's not looking good. Maybe it's just old age. How long should a corn plant live? Who knows. I'm pretty sure 8 years is more than I could ask for, considering my lack of horticultural abilities. {Case in point: click here}

So, I think that soon, it will be time to bury Earl. It will be a very sad day when I finally go through with it. Right now he is hiding in my laundry room because I was embarassed to have him out in the open whilst hosting my sister's shower at the house last weekend. The next move may be to the trash can for old Earl. Sigh.

{that's Earl in the background last year at Christmas}

{This is Earl today. Note the greenery at his feet - that's the baby Earl he has grown. Perhaps I will use him to carry on the bloodline.}

butterflies in november

I bought some flowers toward the end of the summer. Four gorgeous red verbena plants. And, of course, they died. Well, they wilted beyond repair, anyway. I thought I did everything right. I didn't over water; I didn't underwater. I fertilized, but not too much. They got full sun, as required. But I have this gift for ruining plants.

So, when they were completely dead-looking, I cut them back. All but one of them, which was starting to bloom again. I treated all 4 of these plants the same way - same watering, same fertilizer, same soil, same sunlight. But 3 of them are gone & 1 is flourishing. I took this picture of it today at lunchtime. You may not be able to see it, but there is a butterfly enjoying my anomaly of a plant.


Why can't the other 3 look like this one???

HELP!!!

I have the brownest thumb EVER. I bought these flowers a couple of weeks ago, and look at them! What is my problem? I water them whenever the soil is dry. When it rains, of course I don't water them. There is fertilizer in the soil. They perk up when I water them, but am I watering them too much? What did I do wrong?? Green thumbs, comment please!!

This is what they are SUPPOSED to look like:

{Aztec Red Verbena}