remember this little guy?

{back when he was just a wee little sprout in a bitty-pot}

*sorry. obviously this plant was somehow gender-ized...due to the fact i am referring to it as a "he"

{and then he got bigger. and grew real-plant leaves!}

...aaaand then he went through what i would call the:
"difficult-officeplant-stage" :
(where he refused to bloom.)

• he grew about two-freaking-feet.
• required a repotting.
• demanded to be put outside for "optimal-full-sunlight."
• and then tried to scare me when he attempted plant-suicide during a particularly wicked rainstorm...

{but we've made it through three months of ups and downs...}
and he finally grew me a flower.

*carlyn has also had a bit of trouble with her zenia...but, her plant-baby has given her much less trouble that mine has.

{plant lineup}
*left: my very-troubled little guy.
*middle: carlyn's less-troubled little guy.

*right: brian's short, stumpy, and well-behaved flowering marigold.

oh, and all those giant sticks and rubberbands are there because our plants INSISTED on growing at least 2 feet before even thinking about flowering.
(great, guys. really nice of you.)

{and this would be carlyn...and her OTHER office-flowers}

{the occasion...?}

oooooh...maybe a recent engagement...or something like that.

plant babies

(yes. this would be my obligatory boring yard-update)


buuuut...it seemed like only yesterday, that the plant-babies were just wee-bitty-sprouts:

{so little. so manageable. so well-weeded...}

and, like all good little plants should do,
they kept growing...and growing...and growing

until they they grew into an uncontrollable mass of squash
(and weeds?)
*i started slacking in my plant-motherhood....

but LOOK squash-blossoms!!
(*this is a good sign: my plant-mothering is obviously not as bad as i thought)

aaaand, squash-blossoms turn into little squash...

{baby-squash-butt? ...i think so.}

However, it's been about two weeks...AAAaaaaaand. the blossoms are STILL THERE. (how slow can squash grow?) i have three rows that should be budding into tasty-edibleness. but, the above-pictured squash-butt would be the ONLY thing that is actually growing.

{ugh.}

and speaking of plants/gardens/yards....um:

i think SOMEONE MOWED MY YARD!?
(i came home from work on tuesday. and it was short--which was definitely not the way that i left it.)

but who randomly mows lawns?!!?

and trust me: i'm very happy about this mysterious do-gooder... (because lets be honest: mowing is not one of my top 5 favs.)

...but, who do i thank?
...and why did they do it?

(does someone not approve my mowing jobs? is one of my neighbors fed up with staring at my uneven mower-lines?...i mean, i can't help it that I have lawn-mowing-dyslexia. and i spastically feel like mowing certain parts horizontal, and other parts vertical...or other parts a bit more...circular(?)







but, just in case you may believe that i am a total gardening and lawn-mowing failure...

i leave you with this:

*i have discovered that i am quite successful in the flower-department.
too bad they aren't very practical.
or edible...