Green Thumb? Not So Much…

Posted: May 20th, 2009 | Author: Brandice |

There are very few things that I can keep alive other than myself at this stage in my life… My cat seems to be fairing well (although my husband is the one to remember to feed her most of the time), I once had a fiddler crab that kept my interest for almost a year, and I can grow hen and chicks.

What’s even cooler? (Other than that I took the above picture and don’t seem to have totally screwed it up with my very undeveloped photography abilities.) The hen and chicks I happen to be growing in my dark red pot this year are descendants from the very hen and chicks that my mother planted at my great-grandmother’s house when she was a child.

They are very special hen and chicks. :) AND, you can accidentally leave them out in the elements all winter and they’ll perk right up come spring. That’s my kind of plant!

What are you growing in your garden (or on your apartment window sill) this year?

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  • Me and plants don't mix. I think i've killed or almost killed every plant i've been given. As a house warming gift a few years back, my mother gave me one of those money plants that don't require much attention and I almost killed it within a month. One of my roommates at the time actually brought it back to life. After that, I refused to have plants in the house unless they were fake or someone else took care of them.
  • You should give hen and chicks a try! :) I kill everything and I haven't managed to kill these. I literally just plant them and stick them out on the balcony (all year round, they come back to life after the winter, even after sitting in the snow), and do NOTHING. They're hearty little buggers and quite cool looking. :)
  • I have a thriving garden back home in Sydney, and I've helped Rachel start her own.

    I train my plants to only need water once a week whether they get full sun, half sun, or are indoors. My trick is using used ground coffee beans in the soil. Larger Starbucks stores offer big silver bags of them for free in Sydney. I haven't seen them in any American Starbucks', but I'm sure they exist.

    Hen and chicks are super easy to take care of because they're succulents and can survive through droughts. Australia has been in drought since around 2000 and various cities, such as Sydney, have had a push on using succulents in gardens and watering less.

    My mom always thinks plants are dead if there's no leaves or flowers on them, but I have the magic to bring anything back to life! ;)

    Enjoy your green and maroon thumb, Brandice!
  • *Maybe* I'll try a non-succulent plants or two this summer with some coffee grounds... I always seem to give it a try, but ultimately the plants don't make it through the experiment. Lol.

    In the meantime, I love my little succulents! :) I left the whole pot from last summer out on the balcony all winter and they're already thriving in the warm weather right next to my next batch.
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