New Plants I'm Trying not to Kill

Every time I sit down to start writing this, I remember something else I have to do because I have, like, humans and animals that need to eat on a daily basis and stuff.  Feed kids. Dress kids. Make coffee. Feed dogs. Find the remote.  Where the heck is the remote? Look, if you guys can't put the remote back where it belongs, then you can't watch t.v., okay?  That's just the way it goes.

Ah, finally time to sit down and...

Doh!  The chickens!  So just hold on one sec while I run out and open the coop and check on those silly birds...

Well I'm back and guess what?  They're all fine.  And the garden looks pretty stinkin' amazing too.  I'd take a picture and show you, only, you know.....I can't!
Okay, time for the real stuff.

Yesterday, I tagged along with a sweet friend to the annual plant auction at her garden club.  If you're imagining a bunch of old ladies arguing about the official latin names for certain strains of a particular variety of flower, then...hey, were you spying on us?  But see, the awesome thing about this place is that even at "formal" garden club meetings, someone may or may not have made the punch out of WINE.  At 9 a.m.  Leading me to hypothetically say "Hey, I thought the rapture was on Saturday.  How is it that I'm in heaven now??? "

My favorite part was when, halfway through the business portion of the meeting, while the president was talking, the secretary (who happens to also go to our parish.  Holy cow, she is sweet and hilarious) hollers "Hey, what's in this drink???  I'm losing interest in you people really fast!".  Have you ever heard my honkey-donkey laugh?  Well those ladies heard it yesterday, I can promise you that.

Clearly the morning alcohol was a ploy to get us all to spend more money at the auction.  Smart, funny old ladies.  I wanna be just like them when I grow up.

Back to the plants.  To beautify the huge expanse of fence along our front yard, I snagged three pots of Sweet Autumn Clematis (clematis paniculata).  Normally $20 each, I paid $7.  Not quite FREE, but close!  Please say a little prayer that they one day look like this:

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In other flower news, my gardening (and everything else) friend also gifted me all of these:

which include Autumn Joy (sedum):

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Helianthus:

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Evening Primrose (Oenothera lamarckiana):

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 Plus, a mystery plant that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.  And someone else gave me a little bag of marigold seeds.

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Can you even imagine how awesome it will be if I can manage to not-kill all of this stuff?  And hopefully by the time they bloom, I'll have a functioning camera again so you can oooooh! and aaaaaaah!  about them along with me.

Hope you guys have a fantastic weekend planned.  Think of me and my poor unsuspecting plants while you're out and about 'cause we're gonna need some Universe-ish growing mojo up in this piece!


p.s. The winner of the Unrepeatables contest has been announced! Check it out here.