From There to Here and Here to There: Flower Power

A couple of months ago, my mom and I (but mostly my mom) undertook a big back yard landscaping project. Over the course of one weekend, my back yard was transformed from this:

to this:

Other than the two trees along the back of the fence and a few little annuals, everything that my mom planted in the back yard was transported here from her yard in Mobile. She explained that I would save a lot of money by using the surplus of perennials from her yard. In all honesty, I think she didn't want me to invest a whole lot of money in plants when there was a strong possibility that I would kill them...

I don't have the best history with plants. A few years ago, I decided I wanted to decorate my apartment with a few potted plants. So my mom started me out with two of her own plants. I thought I was caring for them appropriately and providing them with all of the water and sunlight they needed. However, when my mom came to visit me a few weeks later, she was horrified by the condition these two plants were in. She told me that she was going to have to take the plants back home with her to put them in "Plant ICU". Luckily, she was able to resuscitate these two plants, but she has never offered to let me take them again.

After my mom planted all of the flowers in my back yard, I asked her if she thought the plants would survive. Always the optimist, but also keeping my past history with plants in mind, she said the plants probably had about a 10% chance of survival.

So you can imagine what a state of utter shock I was in when the first plant budded out and bloomed a few weeks ago. And many more of the plants have followed suit. See for yourself!