Time out for a little beauty - and gardening incompetence

in funny •  8 years ago 

I've never had the greenest thumb, so when this pelargonium refused to die while the basil, coriander and mint were expiring all around it (mint! Since when does mint die while growing on Earth? That stuff grows ANYWHERE - except my little herb garden), most likely due to a complete lack of sun except for a bleary dose in the early morning, I became tremendously attached to it. Every once in a while it rewards me with some lovely clumps of flowers while silently reminding me it's not comfortable for plants to hang from pots like that and really, a little water would be nice once in a while.

Pelargonium1



I'd appreciate it if the more garden-erudite among you could give me an idea what kind of pelargonium it might be. I did a bit of research online and was overwhelmed by the range of flower colours and shapes, leaf textures and reproductive organ arrangements (not sure how to say that last bit in gardening speak, but I think you get my drift).

Here are a few more views to give you an idea:

Pelargonium over celery



And just to give you an idea of my level of gardening incompetence, see that Italian parsley growing at the top of photo "above" the pelargonium in the photo? What, you say, that's an inedible celery varietal, not Italian parsley, you fool. Well, if that is what you said, you'd be spot on. It was sold to me as Italian parsley, and I believed the nursery without looking at the label. Caveat emptor. Same deal with the chives growing next to the impostor parsley/celery; turns out all I had to do was read the label to find out it's also an inedible varietal. Who knew someone would bother growing chives you can't eat?

But back to beauty.

Pelargonium head on



That one gives a person a really good view of those reproductive bits.

And finally, one taken from another angle, same time but slightly different light:

Pelargonium view from the right



If these photos have given you an idea of the type of pelargonium featured here, I'd appreciate your feedback. I have a feeling this one and its brother growing in another pot will do better, perhaps even flourish, if I know what they are. Or if I water them more often....

Yes, Steemians, I pledge to take much better care of my Steemit account than the care I've devoted to date to those hardy, valiant pelargoniums and their herby neighbours to date. But with a bit of help from my Steemian friends, maybe they too will finally get a little Steem Power.

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You have a greener thumb than me haha
I need to start getting into gardening.
The flower looks beautiful, great photographs!

Thanks - then your thumbs must be...nope, I'm not going there. Anyway, these little guys are truly forgiving and give me hope I might be able to say I grew something one day. And they are beautiful! Thanks for the kind words :-)

I think you underestimate your "gardening powers" those flowers look beautiful!

Thank you, @willy-donz, you are truly too kind - I suspect their beauty is more due to inherent factors than anything I do for them 😂😂

It's easy to forget to take care of "those hardy, valiant pelargoniums and their herby neighbours" when surfing the steemit platform......
I think there are more of us ....@kiligirl (-;

You said it, fellow Steemian, and it speaks to a balance we probably need to seek in our Steem lives....

Thanks for the continued encouragement 🤗

pleasure (-:

🤗

Ha ha! Lordy you kill me... You are quite the green thumb, TFAY! I can honestly say I have never heard of someone killing mint. I mean, that stuff is INVASIVE! Why I planted one itty-bitty plant about four years ago...
20170629_090246.jpg
Bloody thing thinks it's the only inhabitant of my herb garden!

As for your pink flower (yes, that's MY level of flower knowledge) it truly is pretty. Maybe it's one of those that thrives on abuse. Just sayin'...

Zackly! We planted one sprig of mint in our garden in Bogsville, and presto, the entire garden became mint. I've gone through, er, several plants here.

And let's rather say these plants are"independent" rather than "thriving on abuse". 🤗😏

Harsh. Kinda like, well not really, but did you read The Poisonwood Bible? They try to grow tomatoes but finally realise that they need North American bees to polinate their plants...

Yes, independent, that's it... my bad ;-)

Have definitely read The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favourite authors (Prodigal Summer remains my personal favourite of her works, but I've read several).

On tomatoes: we had the opposite problem with them. All of a sudden we had a cherry tomato plant growing in a planter we were unfortunately planning to remove as part of an upgrade to the garden. Now we didn't plant this; it just grew, and produced about 100 cherry tomatoes! Delicious!

I've not read anything else by her - yet!

How crazy is that? Yummmmmmm!

Try The Lacuna, if you're a fan of Frida Kahlo!

Oooh... Will do!

Such A Beautiful Flower! I Love its colour...I personaly Think Watering It and Keeping it In an Opened Area So It Could Receive Air would do alot of help!

Thanks for the tips, Lisa :-)

Anytime...I Love Flowers!

You go, green-thumbed @kiligirl, your plants look much happier than mine. I'm embarrased to say I minored in plant science at uni 😅

Thanks, @nedia - the credit goes to the plants, not moi!

That pelargonium looks beautiful! It's amazing the different shades of colors it has depending on the light sourcing (looks almost violet in the last picture). It's definitely a fighter lol thanks for sharing!

You've gotta admire it, no? I'll let it know what you said 🤗

Be carefull, they are so brittle.
But you will take care good of these pelargonies :)

Thanks, @hqmafa420 - your faith is encouraging 😂🤗

Good post girl!

Thanks, @hebro!

good story and nice photography

Thank you, @inviterx 🤗

Oh my those are beautiful!!! Nothing like seeing and smelling nature!!!

Thank you, @steemitnow222 🤗 Indeed, the smell and look of nature are so energising....

@kiligirl..really pretty garden! My thumb is green also, maybe I post some of my work soon, have a great day!

Thank you, @loveallhatenone 🤗

Hahaha mint is killable! I keep trying to grow in on my balcony in a pot and no matter what I do she doesn't like it. Not that I kill it. But it grows smaller and smaller and basically useless.
In a garden though it is a darn weed and will take over the place if you don't keep an eye on it.

About the pelargonium - no clue what it is. I know there are two types. One that likes more hot and sun and other that doesn't. But I don't know how different they look and ca't remember the names.
I have one and I just know they are pretty easy to grow :) and if you give them some fertilizer they will bloom and bloom and bloom. You can trim it very short so it get nice and bushy or just let it grow and be like a wild plant with longer stems.
I really like the colour :)

Hi there - thanks for the chuckle, the compliment and the advice :-). Nice to meet a fellow mint-sort-of-killer.

Hello :) You're very welcome!
The mint hates us I'd say.

😂😂 We're a small but exclusive club!

Hahahah yea I guess :D
Not many people can do that.

Totally gifted.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Wow this is so lovely.
It's was pleasure to read your story @kiligirl.

Thanks, @inviter, much appreciated. 🤗 Had a look at your blog and am now following you. Looking forward to reading through your posts, past and future!

@kiligirl: Have followed you too, and upvoted your past stories. Thank you so much and will be my pleasure to have you as my reader ;)

🤗

Interesting post :D