I will have you, Spring.

I admit it - I take things and run with it. So when it finally got a bit warmer this week, and a nice misty rain shower came for a visit this weekend, I took it to mean that Spring was upon us and that I needed to get things rolling, PRONTO.

So, a visit to our local Behnke's. I can remember going to this gardening store ever since I was a kid (pronounced it "Binky's") and it's one of those memories I have of my parents together, and us, as a happy family. We'd come home with plants - even one for me, that I would promptly and mournfully kill - and make our yard into a secret garden of colors and textures.


I don't live in a house. I live in an apartment, with a balcony. I'm afraid I haven't gotten much better with plants with age. But, I was heartened to find a website or two addressing the challenges of growing anything on an apartment balcony with its shade, shifting light, and suspect cover. So I got a couple flowers (pansys, mache ranunculus), herbs (peppermint, lavender, rosemary, oregano) and pet grass (for Locksley). My fingers are crossed for them. They really are.

Because I, my dear friends, can kill the most un-killable plants. That's right: cacti. Fortunately for me - and for the cacti - Sam is very *good* at keeping cacti alive. We have about a thousand of them. And now that the threat of frost is gone they get re-potted and moved out onto the balcony as well. I'm already missing their green (although spikey) company in the kitchen. Re-potting, if you're unfamiliar, involves moving plants that have out grown their current pots and placing them in bigger ones. Cacti have pretty crazy roots - either because they are HUGE, because they are ridiculously tiny, or because they are ridiculously networked. It's a messy and adventuresome process. Locksley helped :)