TLC

Costco had these flower pots on sale last week. I know it's too early to be putting flower pots out. Hello, it's still March! But I walked around the store a few times and just couldn't resist. So now I've been baby-sitting this thing for a week -- outside when it's warm, don't forget to bring it in in the evening, be careful where you set it because it could leak water. I'm crazy, I know, but I have kind of a "baby-sitting" mentality when it comes to gardening. I have literally hundreds of plants, but at least once a week I try to look carefully at each individual plant and ask, "What do you need, little plant? Do you need water? Do you need a shot of fertilizer? Oh, you need to be staked up. I see that little dead branch there. Let me get the scissors and I'll snip that right off. Why, you need more sunshine -- let's just transplant you right over to that sunny spot. You'd bloom again if I just dead-headed you." It's like trying to help hundreds of children to be happy and to reach their individual potential. Maybe a little bit like being a teacher. It's a lot of work but actually very satisfying!