1 Gotta get that bloom bloom BLOOM!

Every year around this time, I get a serious hankering for spring. Warm temps, green yards, a chance to dust off these pasty white legs.

Last month, I feed my gotta-have-a-little-springtime-in-my-life craving by planting a few amaryllis bulbs. Being the brown thumb I am, I was more than pumped when they actually bloomed! Check out the stems on these gals.



I seriously only watered these bulbs three (maybe four) times since I planted them one month ago. Long legged, super low maintenance—what’s not to love?

Want a few of your own? Click here to snag a bulb or two.

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8 The Return of the Brown Thumb

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when I forget how terribly brown my green thumb is and I take off on an I-can-grow-this tangent. Maybe I’m needing a new project? Maybe it’s that I’m itching for springtime temps?….or maybe it’s the precious little package that arrived on my doorstep from my friends in the gardening blog world?



Two amaryllis bulbs (I only knew what they were after I read the label) perfectly packaged and ready for planting.



Luckily, I had two white ceramic thrift shop pots on hand to house my newest friends.



While step-by-step instructions on how to plant, water and care for these little babies may seem excessive to some, to my fellow lack-luster gardeners and myself, they are much appreciated.

We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks with these guys, but in the meantime, I have a precious new little basket to play with.



Want to join in on all of the bulb planting fun? Click here to pick up and amaryllis or two for yourself!

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0 Going Green: A New Addition & True Confession

After my visit to Costa Farms in Miami a couple of weeks ago (click here for the details of that lovely trip), I’ve been on a mission to bring more plants into my construction site. Especially once I caught sight of the orchid farm. I’ve never seen so many happy little plant faces in one room…




So during a recent run to Kroger, I picked up a new little orchid friend of my own…

For only $10, I loaded my newly adopted orchid into the Prius and cruised on home to find the perfect perch for him. And with super simple how-to-not-kill-your-orchid instructions, I had a newfound sense of confidence that I could keep this one alive. Best news of the day.



In other news on the attempt to turn my brown thumb green, the seeds I planted last week? I may or may not have left them out in the torrential downpour we had overnight.

But even with my neglectful plant mother behavior,  I have a few precious little tomato sprouts…

The bad news? I’ll soon have to cleanup my backyard and find a place for these little babies to keep growing once they outgrow their nursery. Doesn’t sound like the most fun I’ve ever had but the fresh tomato & basil salads in my future will be worth the effort.

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3 Going Green: Baby Steps

After my trip to Costa Farms in Miami last week--Missed that adventure? Click here to play catch up--my inner green thumb, buried way down deep in my DIY soul under mounds of paint cans and sheetrock dust, started itching to come out. But let's be honest, I'll never be a master gardener and baby steps are definitely in order. So what better way to start than with a seed planting kit made especially for those still worrying about report cards and making sure no one steals their chocolate milk in the lunch room.

It's is pretty cute how my garden was taco themed, including tomato, cilantro, jalepeno and lettuce seeds.

Self watering tray? I like the looks of this...

Because we are friends, I'll be honest with you and admit that I mainly wanted to kick off this experiment so that I could use my cute watering can/plant sprayer.

True confession: I ditched the lettuce seeds and opted to double up on tomatoes instead...

While I'm hopeful to have a few sprouts in the near future, I did notice a squirrel eyeballing my creation. Maybe he'll take a bite out of a jalapeno seed. Serves him right.

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4 Life Outside the Construction Site: My Visit to Costa Farms

Ready for one doozie of a blog post? Ready. Set. Go…

Last week, I left my construction site behind and cruised on down to Miami for a quick trip to Costa Farms (mega houseplant provider for Lowe’s, Costco, Kroger, IKEA…you catch my drift) with a dozen other writers/bloggers/gardening gurus…Yes. That’s right. I said a gardening…I’m not insulted one bit if you are scratching your head wondering how on earth I managed an invite. According to the fine folks at Costa, they wanted a wide variety of writers & bloggers to attend this year’s social summit. I definitely represented the currently-have-zero-plants-in-my-immediate-surroundings-unless-an-overgrown-lawn-qualifies demographic. Nonetheless, a great time was had and this DIY-er definitely left with the inspiration to turn my brown thumb green…or at least a slightly less muddy shade of green.

Off we go on our whirlwind tour of the farm. Load ‘em up and move ‘em out!…



First stop: Cacti and succulents. Very cool plants that seem incredibly tough to kill. Right up my alley.

Next up: The orchid farm.

If you’ve ever picked up an orchid from IKEA, this is where they are grown.

By far the most breathtaking destination for the day. Rows and rows (and rows) of orchids in all colors. Gorgeous.

Those trusting farmers even allowed us to manhandle a few during our lesson on how to repot an orchid. Mainly this photo makes me giggle since from this angle it looks like we are all wearing fancy headdresses.



More roughing up the plants when we broke into teams for a little good spirited competition. Each team had 15 minutes to whip up a lush creation with a limited supply of materials.


My team with our tablescape…click here to head over to Costa Farm’s Facebook page to vote for ours as the winner!


By this time we were starving, so we loaded up and headed over to the trial garden for lunch. In the trial gardens, different plant varieties are studied and evaluated so that only the very best quality of plants are shipped out to retailers.

One of the most exciting new products Costa is busy whipping up is their line of 100% biodegradable packaging, meaning you can buy a plant and stick it right in the ground as is. You say simple & good for the earth? I say done!



Next, Costa wanted our help picking our favorite plants from the trial gardens. I was definitely a fish out of water in this activity since I know little to nothing about what I was looking at but I did my best…



Check out my reasoning for selecting #6. I just know my feedback will prove invaluable to my new friends at Costa. You are welcome…



Moving at lightening speed, we cruised over to where they produce coconut coir—a sustainable alternative growing medium (think dirt). Here they saturate condensed blocks of coconut shell and test to make sure the pH level is suitable for the plants.


Looks yummy, eh?



Finally, our last stop of the day was to the hibiscus farm. Costa grows a stunning variety of hibiscus plants with huge, brightly colored blooms, know as their Tropical Escape line.

After a quick freshening up at the hotel, we headed over to the President & CEO’s home for dinner—who are husband and wife, by the way. So stinkin’ cute…Great food, great company and one heck of a tablescape outfitted with glowing arrangements and terrariums.

Whew! A long day of stomping around the farms at Costa, but I cannot tell you how much I learned not only about plants but about the company as a whole. As a true family business, Costa Farms is nothing less than an inspiration. With passionate, down-to-earth executives leading the way for growers and employees on every level, it’s no wonder Costa has been such a great success over the past 50 years. The business major in me was excited to see the inner workings of the business. The blogger in me was eager to share my experience on the farm with you. And the brown thumb in me was ready to bring a few plants into my construction site…It’s happening. Stay tuned.

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