gardener extroidinair

I'm pretty much awesome at everything I do.

Wait, did I just say that??

Maybe I should I have said, "Sometimes people tell me that I'm awesome at everything I do." But then I'd be lying. And I'd much rather be called haughty than a liar. (I think it goes back to preschool. Mr. Gary, the music teacher at our church pre-school, used to make kids wear a donkey tail if we were tattle-telling on anyone. I used to wear it a LOT. Like at least 3 days a week. Seriously. I don't know why I think about that when I think about lying. I guess I was really tattle-telling and lying. Funny that I would want to not lie.....but I am totally fine with tattle-telling. Remind me to tell you about this lady I saw at Harris Teeter yesterday. Wait, is that tattle-telling or gossip? The line is really so very thin, isn't it?)

ANYWAYS. Back to how fabulous I am.

My little bubble has burst this week. I've taken a good look at our yard and I am not impressed. It seems that just about everything that I've planted and attempted to care for is dying and all these plants that I didn't plant are doing fantastic. What is up with that?!

Here's some evidence:

what is up with that tree on the left? it has seriously been brown since it was planted.

i know its Japanese...i think it might be like a yin-yang tree

and then we have the plants that are thriving almost just to spite me

i can actually hear them laughing at me

that would be a pansy that mysteriously appeared in our flower bed in JULY

and also there's a decorative mini-pumpkin that i accidentally threw in the vacant lot next to our house. (and by accident, i mean that we were having a contest on our back porch last fall to see who could throw them the farthest and my aim was way off.) the plant is so huge that i couldn't fit it in the frame. seriously---its like 1/2 an acre. i might have to open up a pumpkin stand this fall.

i do have one plant that i love and that's doing well.

lantana, how do i love thee?

we have planted lantana in front of our garage, which is the hottest part of the house (smack between the brick and a sidewalk.) our landscaper said we'd be hard-pressed to find anything that would really thrive in that bed. and then we found the lantana, and life has been good.

and then the pansy moved in. seriously? a pansy?