Green thumb no match for drought

If I ever had a green thumb it has turned black.

I’ve lamented recently the condition of my front yard but I have to report with the recent rains it’s starting to green up. Of course the green parts are grass burrs.

The rose bushes decided to emerge from their drought-induced dormancy long enough for one of the uncooperative shrubs to throw out suckers that now reach the eaves of the house. Of course that bush hasn’t set a bloom since May.

The yellow rose bush out by the mailbox in the blazing sun has flowered pretty regularly for the last month but no sooner do the blooms open than their petals are toasted off by the 100 degree temperatures.

I now have three tree stumps in my yard and from the color of the leaves on the one in my side yard there will soon be four. The only good thing here is that we’ve had cheap firewood the last few years. I’m afraid to spend money on new trees the way my luck is running. The one tree that is going great guns is starting to throw out seedlings all over the yard so I’ve carefully selected specific seedlings to mow around in hopes I can reforest naturally.

Thankfully I didn’t plant much garden this year, some of it never came up and other things died when the water restrictions hit. Now that it’s getting water again the only thing growing is squash (oh boy). My lack of weeding has begun to make it hard to find even a squash plant, however.

Inside the house things aren’t going much better. I’ve always been pretty successful with houseplants and I usually have at least a half dozen plants. I’m down to four right now.

The little cactus that had ears that made it look like an alien turned translucent on me and gave up the Ghost. Then while we were gone on a long weekend the big plant I knew was becoming too top-heavy for it’s pot took a header off the table it was on without a dog around to knock it over.

I took it outside to replace the soil and water well so I could transplant it to a bigger pot. Sunday night with a Bible study going on in our living room I glanced out the patio door and saw the dog dragging that big old plant by at top speed. Next I see the dog shaking about half the pot and soil flying everywhere. I didn’t even get up to yell at him.

Besides the graveled front yard I talked about in a previous column, I’m now also shopping for some really good looking silk house plants and maybe a rubber palm tree or two.