Plants – Mom's Brown Thumb

HELLO APRIL!!!!! In the Midwest, especially Ohio, we can experience many types of weather within a few days when the seasons are changing.

Last week I spotted a couple dandelions blooming by the sidewalk (and I didn’t think to take a picture at the time) and now that it’s been cooler the last few days and cloudy today, I don’t see them.

Yesterday morning I woke up to snow.

It didn’t stay long and was melted by afternoon. Yesterday was cool and today’s high temperature is supposed to be almost 70 degrees with thunderstorms. Yep, this is spring in Ohio.

Ahh, I hear rumbles of thunder – my favorite sound. I used to get into trouble as a kid because I would hear thunder and go outside to watch the storm roll in. My parents would be yelling at me to get inside, which I did once the gust front hit and it was lightning and raining. But it didn’t stop there. I would go into my bedroom and watch the storm from my window. Also, I always seem to get my best sleep when it storms at night.

We have gotten quite a bit of rain today. Currently, the National Weather Service has issued Flood Watches and Flood Warnings in my region because the ground was already saturated before the heavy rain today. I even noticed some puddling of water in my yard.

After I took this picture, I was shutting the door when I noticed yellow. I thought, Oh My Gosh, Did I just see the Forsythia blooming? I opened the door again and was pleased to see it was blooming!

Have you heard the tale about Forsythia? Well, the story goes that once you see it blooming there will be only three more snow falls and winter will be over. The snow fall may accumulate or it may just be flurries. Either way, Forsythia blooming is a very welcomed sign of spring! Here’s a thought….let’s test this old wives tale and see how many times it snows after today!

You may be wondering….What does “Mom’s Brown Thumb” mean? Does it mean that Mom’s thumb is always brown from playing in the dirt? Does it mean that Mom’s thumb is brown because she kills all things green? Actually, it’s a little bit of both! Yes, so true.

Mom usually never has much trouble growing plants in the garden and flower beds. Potted plants, indoors and outdoors, tend to present a challenge. The plants that left us scratching our heads were her cacti……..

There were several cacti in a potted container like the one in the above picture. Slowly over the years, a cactus would dry up and turn brown. We teased Mom asking How in the world can you kill a cactus?

Maybe she over-watered. Maybe she never watered. But most of them perished. One survived – well, until it was fatally injured by a Mammoth Furball named Spanky.

I’m certain Spanky meant no harm. He is a large cat and tends to run through the house like a bull in a china shop. The cactus pot was knocked off the plant stand in the kitchen, breaking the last remaining cactus in half. It slowly turned brown and died. So, the sole remaining cactus did not perish at the hands of my Mom (as I chuckle writing that). The cactus was doing very well until Spanky came running through the kitchen one day. Needless to say, I felt terrible and I bought Mom another pot of cacti for Mother’s Day. Let’s just hope they survive whatever adversary comes their way.

Category: Plants

Snow, Thunderstorms, & Forsythia

What’s in a Name?