« friday chookooloonks life list update: number 64, grow a flower »
There are two activities in the world which history tells me not only can I not do them, but I'm so bad at them, it's like I'm the antichrist of their performance.
The first is gambling. Not only is my ability to lose money legendary, if I'm in a casino and I simply walk by a blackjack table, everyone seated around the table starts to lose money as well. I'm like a Gambling Dementor.
Luckily, I don't have any interest in gambling whatsoever, so, you know, no harm, no foul.
The second thing I'm horrible at, however, is growing anything that photosynthesizes in order to live. I can almost sense plants beginning to wilt when I come anywhere in their vicinity. I have committed more herbicide than I care to admit; and despite my friend Gayla insisting that I just need to keep trying, that all gardeners kill plants, but that it's okay because that's how I'll learn, I had generally given up ever attempting to grow anything green. I felt it was only fair to the plant kingdom.
I felt this way, that is, until I came up with my life list.
Number 64 on my life list is my goal to grow a flower from a seed -- and now that you know my proclivity for plant death, you can see why putting it on my list was a serious challenge (possibly equal to Number 87, "take a trapeze lesson"). Nonetheless, a couple of weeks ago, on February 28th (a perfectly beautiful spring-like day, which might have caused the following mental aberration), I got in my car and drove to a local nursery.
Once there, I met a cheery fellow named Ivan. "How can I help you?" he said with an exuberant smile.
"Ivan, honey, I'm about to give you the weirdest request you've had all day."
"Sock it to me."
"I recently wrote down my life list -- things I want to do in my lifetime -- and one of them is to grow a flower from a seed."
"Easy."
"You would think so. Thing is? I kill things. You need to give me seeds that cannot be killed."
Ivan was undeterred. He sped me around the nursery, piling stuff in my arms like little seed-grow-container-thingies, one-gallon-transplant-the seedlings-into-bigger-container-thingies, bags of turbo-charged-soil-of-awesomeness and of course, seeds. Overwhelmed, I paid for the items and came home.
"What did you buy?" Gayla tweeted.
"Umm.... looks like zinnias and foxgloves," I tweeted back. Not that I would know a zinnia or a foxglove if it got in bed with me.
"Hmm," was her response. "I don't know much about growing foxgloves from seeds, but I'm confident you'll do well with the zinnias."
It's like she's daring me to kill them.
Anyway, with Marcus' guidance (he's English, and I'm convinced his people can grow anything), I planted the seeds. I watered. I crooned sweet nothings into their little seedy ears. And then, 6 days later ...
March 6.
... I couldn't believe it. Seedlings!
Now, to be honest, I wasn't planning on sharing the progress of these plants with you until I actually had a bloom, but I'm so excited about the fact that a green thing grew (I'm equally confident that I may not actually be able to keep this up), I thought I'd share the progress with you now. This week, we moved the seedlings into larger pots, so it's entirely possible that this action alone might be the cause of their impending demise, but in the meantime, behold the green things in their tiny little glory:
March 10.
Transplanted (also March 10).
Isn't this one cute? I may call him "George."
Obviously, more photographs of progress (if any) will follow.
So with that, I'm off to Austin for SXSW. In addition, Marcus, Alex and I are going to take a little concentrated family time, so I'm going to try to unplug until Wednesday of next week. In the meantime, friends, have a great weekend, and see you soon.
(Seriously! I grew these! Unbelievable!)
Song: Will it grow by Jakob Dylan
Fri, March 12, 2010
Reader Comments (27)
Congratulations! I'm thrilled for you. I can not grow anything either. My Dad and his family, all gardeners. They grow vegetables and plants. Perhaps I can get inspired by your success. Besides, everyone here in Germany has something growing on their balcony. This may finally be my time. To grow.
Girl, you are a RIOT! Hilarious. I'm sure George and his cohorts will do marvellously well under your careful hand -- somewhere the universe will right itself and provide you with a break for the simple fact that you're going to balance things out by capturing the glory of it with your camera and let it have its 15 minutes of blossomy fame on the Internet.
Have a good break!
i'm excited for you! i haven't started my life list yet, but i am at a point where intentionality is a big part of my vocabulary. doing life on purpose is really on my radar, and eventually, i'll compose a list of the biggest things i want to achieve. thanks for sharing your goals with us!
Look how cute they are! I put grow my own veggies on my life list. I'm waiting until we have our last freeze in April to get started.
i fully kill both plants and gambling streaks! my husband occasionally likes to play poker, and when he and his friends so much as have a poker night at our house, i'm not allowed to be there for fear i'll turn the night into a snooze-fest of horrible hands! i once had someone who claimed to be "seriously lucky" at slots - he'd won like $400 that night alone - try to convince me he could help me be lucky at slots {which i think is a falacy anyhow}, and we wasted like HALF of his winnings that night proving me right.
congrats on growing the baby plants!!!
I love Gayla's books and growing stuff even more. I kill plants on the regular, so don't feel bad. I can not seem to grow a rose bush to save my life. This year I am growing veggies!
Yea! Also, I love "(he's English, and I'm convinced his people can grow anything)." Best quote. From my time living in Britain, they do grow lovely flowers and shrubbery! Enjoy your time off.
It's so funny that you mention the trapeze - I must've missed that on your original list. A bunch of my girlfriends just recently took a trapeze lesson. Here in San Diego, there's a group that does that very thing -- give lessons to the public. They had a great time. If you're ever in San Diego & want to cross that off of your list, I can get you the info. I didn't join my friends this last time, but I may just do it at some point. They also allow observers, so you can bring someone for moral support.
As I approach 40, I think that I need to make a list like this, too. Sometimes just writing it down is a huge motivation.
I love that you called the guy at the plant store "honey" - that made me giggle. And I'm glad he was up to your challenge. Congrats!
Yippeeeee!!!
Wow, that's impressive lady. Congrats and I love the pics.
Y'all have a wONDERFUL time!
I'm going to be in Austin tonight and tomorrow and part of Sunday. I'm not going to SXSW .. I'm going to TechMUNCH and then hanging out with friends.
Y"all be safe and enjoy your family time with your darling family.
TTYS