Grandma's Thumbs

Gratitude #72 - Grandma's Thumbs.

I love plants. I adore them! And I don't remember when I didn't! I always have. My sisters don't really do plants, my mom did a few... but my Grandma Arline (yes, that's who I got my name from. She was Daddy's Mom.) had a GREEN thumb. There were always lots of plants in her house, she grew a big garden and had pretty plants around outside. Maybe I didn't get JUST my name from Grandma Arline?

Here's a picture with all of us in it...

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(from left to right...Deanna, Momma, Great Grandpa Howard, Daddy, Little Linda, Aunt Joyce, Great Grandma Minnie, Lora, me, Grandpa Dale and Grandma Arline.)

And, SEE!!!! There's even a plant in the family picture!!! LOL!!!

This little Christmas Cactus started as a two-joint segment that I found at the bottom of a box that Aunt Joyce sent over from her place. She didn't put it there, but the box was sitting by her plant and... well, there it was! I stuck the wee segment in dirt, gave it some TLC and...it bloomed this year! HA! And, the best part? The mother plant that the little segment came off from belonged to my Grandma Arline! (and her mom, Great Grandma Minnie!)

This morning, while I was trying out a 15-minute drill thing that my sister Deanna suggested (set the timer, work for 15 min., timer goes off, go do something else with the timer set again, repeat over and over. Helps with productivity... worth try, huh?), I went outside to begin cleaning up the flower beds. Look what I found!!!! The bleeding hearts are up about 6"!!! The leaves are so colorful and pretty! LOVE!!! The daffodils are up and GREEN! And so is the peony! Spring IS coming!!!

Back in the house, I saw that the African Violets on the window sill above Momma's bed are BLOOMING again! I always thought of these as fussy plants, but I neglect them horribly and they come back again and again. I don't like pink, but I love this pink!

And then there's this little treasure!

My Grandma Arline's little sister, Orletta and her husband Don lives here in the Walla Walla Valley. Whenever they come over during the holidays, they often bless me with a beautiful orchid plant. I never liked orchids before. TOO FUSSY!!! Well, this winter, one of the older plants REBLOOMED!!! I was so surprised and delighted! How COOL is that!? WowWOWwow!

I don't know if this is truly a genetic thing, these green thumbs of mine, but I like to think that I have my Grandma Arline's green thumbs. The thought warms my heart. I loved Grandma Arline. I'm grateful that I got her name...and her thumbs! ;-)