My First African Marigold Is Still Standing

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

A pretty garden isn't built overnight.  I really have a lot of respect for those of you who have a blooming and beautiful garden.  I can barely keep my couple of plants alive.  For weeks, I've gone out to my patio to obsessively check on my Marigolds, looking for leaves eating insects to squash!  Of course I never found any insect during my countless garden inspections.  One time, I did get 3 ugly snugs (yes, just 3) in a bowl of beer I put out overnight.  There are so many holes on the leaves of my Marigolds that I have no idea what creature is feeding on them.  As of now, I just give up.  Instead of obsessively checking the plant countless times on a daily basis, I'm now only spending a couple minutes every other day, on watering and inspection;  and for once every 4 days, I spray the 100% all natural insecticide on the soil.  I don't spray on the leaves anymore because I have been burning them.

I've stopped fussing over my Marigolds because my investment of time on them didn't generate the numerous flowers that I had been expecting.  Many of the buds just died without ever blooming.  It's not lacking of buds. There are always numerous buds forming, but they always die as the buds.  I have no idea if it was due to the all natural insecticide that I had been spraying on them, or it was due to some mysterious diseases or insects.  Whatever it is that's been killing the buds of my Marigolds, it's still able to maintain 3 flowers at all time, and never more than 3.  When one of the 3 flowers died, another bloomed to make up for the dead one I pinched off.  But 3 is where my single plant of African Marigold plateaus.  Compared to how the plant looked back in April, it's not looking much worse now.  I should be glad that this $1.00 Marigold plant is still standing.  As of now, I have given up my futile battles against nature (like insects or god knows what organisms that eat my plant)  to fight for the life all the flower buds.  As long as there are still 3 flowers, I am content.  I've learnt to chill now, through my lessons with gardening.

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Saving My French Marigolds From Leaves Eating Bugs

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

Gardening teaches me a lesson in not trusting everything I read or see on the internet  or any media at face value.  I spent my $1.00 to buy a dainty little French Marigold plant after learning from the internet that French Marigolds are pest-resistant, heat tolerant and low-maintenance.  After buying my little pot, I dreamt of it growing big in the container and producing lots of bright orange flowers.   But like all dreams, dreams are always just dreams.  Dreaming to have a blooming Marigold plant doesn't actually make it happen.  My French Marigold was literally wilting under the sun.

After I solved the wilting-in-the-heat problem in my last post, I started to see holes on the leaves of my French Marigolds.  Some bugs, and I don't know what in particular, have been munching on my marigolds!  So I went on Amazon.com to look for something that can kill bugs organically. After reading a dozen ingredient lists, I bought Mantis MPP003 Botanical Insecticide/Miticide ($19.95 for 32 fl oz).  I bought this spray among all the brands because this one has 100% all natural listed ingredients, while others, even though branded as organic; have 30% of unlisted ingredients which I don't want to take a chance with.  I just don't want to expose myself to more chemical in addition to all the chemical lawn sprays and god knows what other sprays the landscaping company contracted by my landlord's HOA has been spraying all the time on a weekly basis.  

Eager to kill whatever bugs that have been chewing on my plant, I mistakenly sprayed this 100% organic insecticide in the strong afternoon sun without reading the product direction first, so I burnt the tips of some leaves.....

Aside from the burning mistakes I made, my French Marigold seems to be surviving as of now, with new flowers showing up.... 

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Garden Inspiration: Small Colorful Flower Bed

The small corner of a patio can make a big beautiful impact when  packed with heat tolerant plants.

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Garden Inspiration: Flower Garden Design For A Small Patio

This is a great example to show that a beautiful flower garden can happen even in small townhome patios.

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When One Plant Dies, Another Is Brought Home Alive

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

Growing flowers from seeds isn't as easy as I thought.  Many gardening websites and blogs just make it sound so easy; as if all I have to do is to just toss the seeds in my patio, pat them down in the soil and flowers will just grow.  It is under this fantasy that I planted Mexican sunflowers from seeds.  The seeds germinated well and they had a strong start in sprouting. Then for reasons I still don't know (probably due to my lack of gardening skills),  most of my Mexican sunflowers seedlings just died off.  As of now,  I have two Mexican sunflowers seedlings left that are barely alive.  I have no high hope for these two because they look so frail.   

It's kind of heart breaking to see the death of  something that I had been tenderly nurturing.  I can't imagine how  parents who lost their children to illness, murders, accidents, disasters cope, when I feel so sad just over the loss of one dozen plus of my seedlings.  To fill such void in my heart and to help myself recover from my loss, I just had to go to Trader Joe's to bring a pot of big bloom home.  I have no idea how to care for Godetia, I had never heard of these flowers before but I brought the plant home anyway because the bloom is cheap for its size at $5.99.

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Potted Marigolds Don't Do Well Under The Full Southern California Sun?

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

Over the weekend, I planted my first French Marigold into the ground next to my African Marigold. When I purchased the potted single-flower French Mariglold plant at $1.00 from the grocery store, I was intending to keep the plant in its pot because I like the idea of easily moving the plant to anywhere around the home when I feel like it.  After a couple weeks sitting in the pot in the patio under the cool nice spring weather, the plant seemed to do well and actually produced 2 more flowers. I even deadheaded the oldest original flower, as demonstrated in the gardening video; in an attempt to encourage more bloom.

All went pretty good until a few days ago, the weather sort of changed to become hotter with a stronger sun. I went into a panic when I saw my potted marigolds go  limp. (See photo below.)  I was scared that the supposedly easy-to-grow, and heat-resistant marigolds would die on me.  The fact that my thumb could be so black that I couldn't even handle the supposedly hardy marigolds was just too humiliating to even think about.

I still can't believe that the full sun (morning or noon or any hour)  here in Southern California actually can  wilt a potted French Marigold plant in just a couple hours, despite the regular watering.  (No wonder humans actually get skin cancer from just hanging out by the beach.)  After seeing that the African Marigolds in the ground seem to do a little better under the sun, I planted the French Marigolds into the ground too.   It became perky again after the strong sun subsided. (See the first photo on the very top.)  I don't know why every gardening video is saying that Marigolds love full sun, because my potted one doesn't seem to like it that much.  I wonder if the full-sun advice only applies to Marigolds that are planted into the ground?

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My First African Marigold

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

I'm never a patient person, and growing flowers from seeds takes too much patience.  While waiting for my Mexican sunflowers to sprout from seeds, I became restless and wanted to see some flowers in my ugly weedy patio.  I had wished that the dandelions would take over the patio and crowd out those grassy flowerless ugly weeds. But it just isn't happening. There were only a few dainty dandelions and they didn't seem to be spreading. They flowered, they died and then nothing.  I have no idea why many people hate dandelions so much and often take extreme measures to use chemical to kill them.   I will never want any chemical in my patio, even though it's only my rental.  I had made a pact with my landlord to not send his gardeners to my place. I rather have a patio filled with weeds than having a barren toxic and chemical soaked patio right outside my living room.   Besides, I kind of like the dandelion's dainty and delicate yellow flowers.  I would love to see them blooming all over the patio.

After watching the video on how Marigolds are the easiest plants to grow for spring, summer and fall, I picked up one wilting African Marigold plant that had only one yellow pom-pom flower for $1.00 when I was shopping for grocery.  I guess it was $1.00 because it wasn't looking too good and the grocery store just wanted to get rid of it.

I brought it home and I just put it in the the same hole where I dug out the dead dandelion plant. That was over a week ago. I have been watering it every other day (without using fertilizer). Now  I am seeing a couple new flowers starting to bloom....  Not bad for $1.00.

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My Mexican Sunflower Seeds Are Sprouting

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

I don't know why I am starting plants from seeds.  I am a busy professional who spends most of my everyday working in a downtown skyscraper. This is why I love Kalanchoe because it is a plant that can survive on my desktop in my downtown office, without me making a fuss over plant care.

A few weeks ago, I started hating the several square feet of patio at my rental apartment because it's filled with unsightly weeds.  I'm surprised that the weeds can actually survive in such a little space in semi-arid Los Angeles without people watering them.  Then I suddenly had a fantasy about those ugly weeds being replaced by bushy and showy flowers.  The more I fantasized about it, the stronger my desire is to get that easy growing and fast spreading bushy flowers to take over the weedy patio.  After lots of internet surfing for that type of flowers, I stumbled upon Mexican sunflowers.  I couldn't find the seeds from Home Depot, so I bought them online.  I bought 500 mg seeds (about 50 seeds) for about $4.38 (shipping included). 

On March 28, I planted the seeds in a seed starting tray filled with moistened potting mix and I have been watering daily ever since. (The soil has to be moist but not flooded with water so the seeds don't get drown and rot.)  The sprouts started showing up a few days ago, and as of today, there are more than a dozen seeds that had sprouted.  Whether these Mexican sunflowers will spread like weed in my patio has yet to be seen, but I'm very happy with these seeds so far.

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The Beauty of Marigolds

Review: Air Wick Summer Delight Scented Oil Air Fresherner

Review submitted by: Barbara Weiner

Not only do I want my bathroom to look decent with flowers.  I also want my  bathroom to smell of sweet flowers.  But whatever little aroma my little pot of Heather Flowers are emitting, it's just not noticeable in my bathroom. I therefore plugged in Air Wick Summer Delight Scented Oil to energize my bathroom with a more powerful fragrance.  I give this scented oil 4 stars out of 5 for its wonderfully crafted formula that layered the pleasant fragrance of white flowers, with the scents of sweet melon and vanilla.  These scents just go very well together.  It makes my bathroom smell really nice.  I love it. A pack of 3 bottles is only $6.48 from Walmart. 

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Small Orange Kalanchoe Plant Makes Great Spring Display

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

In my opinion, small apartments benefit even more from lively plants than a spacious single family house with big front and back yards.  It's because the lack of space and the high density living can sometimes feel oppressive to me.  I find that putting colorful flower plants in my apartment helps me feel so much more cheerful and lively.  I am never much a gardener but I feel lucky to have found the low maintenance and apartment friendly Kalanchoe.   Today, I bought another Kalanchoe plant at Home Depot. At only $2.98, this dainty orange Kalanchoe comes in a beautiful 2 in" ceramic pot.  It just looks so good on my bookshelf along side my yellow Kalanchoe. I love that the luscious silhouette of the dainty plant also gives a very beautiful contrasts  to my abstract oil painting. 

Notes from the editors: Do you have a photo of your plant that you want to share with us? If so, please click here to contact us for photo submission guidelines. If we decide to publish your photo and story, we will send you a beautiful shower curtain.

A Colorful And Contemporary Bathroom

Ready, hang and re-style your bathroom with a colorful contemporary shower curtain. ($25.49)

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Beautiful Mansion In Florida

This is what $9.8 mil will buy you:)

Re-blooming Of My Kalanchoe Continues

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

I've never had a plant that lasts so long and that doesn't require me to do much.  I've been busy with work so I haven't done anything to my Kalanchoe plant since the last time I spotted the first flower of the re-blooming.  I just left it alone on the same spot in my living rom with no watering and no fertilizing. Yet, the flowers keep coming.  This is the best $5.99 I ever spent on a plant.

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My Kalanchoe Reblooms!

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

Kalanchoe is the first re-blooming plant among all those I'd bought so far. I'm so thrilled because my boyfriend always said I had a black thumb instead of a green one.  I followed the instruction from the video I saw on this blog and cut back the plant after the flowers from the last bloom were wasted.  I then added more potting mix to the pot, water once or twice a week as the video advised.  I also fertilized it once a week.  Since I don't have any plant fertilizer other than the orchid plant food mist that I bought a while back in a failed attempt to resuscitate  my dead orchid gift, I just used the leftover mist to spray feed my Kalanchoe to save money on buying new fertilizer. My Kalanchoe seems to accept this orchid food mist and is now forming new flower buds to bloom again. The following photo was from a few days ago before the flower shows up today.

Kalanchoe is such a hardy and low-maintenance plant, I really love it.  I can't really explain the tremendous satisfaction that I'm having when I see a plant re-bloom.

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Why Does This White Bathroom Look So Chic And Mine Is An Eye Sore?

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

This white bathroom from Restoration Hardware is just so chic!

If only I own my bathroom instead of renting, I can make it look chic like that.  But since my landlord who obviously has very poor taste doesn't care,  I'm brainstorming on how I can improve my bathroom with my limited authority to make it look less dated. I strongly feel that my bathroom's 50+ years old vanity mirror just have to go....Do you have any idea?

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Bathroom With A Simple But Charming Design

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Erica Heather Adds A Little Living Color To My 50+ Years Old Rental Bathroom

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

As a renter, it's not about the rent that bugs me or whether I'm missing out on investing in real estate that makes me feel envious of the homeowners. I think the biggest con for renting is that I am always stuck with an old bathroom that I don't like.  Bathrooms in rentals always look so generic, as if they are trapped in a time warp in the 60s.  I'm only guessing because my current rental was built in the 60s and my current bathroom doesn't look any different from all the other bathrooms that I had in my previous rentals elsewhere.  I have no idea of what bathrooms in the 60s really looked like since it was an era that was so beyond my generation.  Just my landlord told me my current bathroom fixtures were all original from the 60s (except for the shower door;  and the lights above the vanity).  

I always hate the old and tarnished original vanity  mirror (which I have no authority in changing). Then there is this odd vibe the entire color/decor scheme gives me, which I can't quite figure out what specifically it is that bugs me.  I feel like I have an eye sore and yet I can't pinpoint what it is that gives me the sore.  If you know what exactly is wrong in my bathroom that bugs me so, please let me know!! In the meantime, I try to add a dash of living color with the fragrant Erica Heather that I snipped off from a luscious bloom I bought from Trader Joe's for $4.49.

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Decorate Your Entrance For Health, Peace And Prosperity

What Will Happen If Dandelions Are Not Weeded

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

I found a single small dandelion in my tiny patio this morning, which is the only single flower there because I haven't planted anything there or put any plants there.  I just can't find the time to get to that part of my rental apartment.  I hear that dandelion is a perennial weed.  But what harm will it do to my patio if I just leave it alone??  In my case, I won't mind if the dandelion completely takes over my patio because I think the dainty yellow flower is pretty.  It's better to have a patio filled with yellow dandelions than unruly ugly weed grass, no?  I just think it's nice to have flowers in my patio without me watering or doing anything.  

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Multifunctional Bedroom

This is such a cool ideal to maximize the use of a small space!

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A Lower Budget Idea For A White Bedroom With Functional Storage

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

If only money were plentiful, I would of course refurnish my bedroom with everything that I see from the Pottery Barn catalog.  Unfortunately, I'm currently living from paycheck to paycheck, so if I have to redecorate my bedroom right now, I will get the above storage bed at $359.44, and also the storage headboard below for $107.34, which are more wallet friendly to me as of now than the high-end storage bed at Pottery Barn. (I'm sure PB furniture have better quality, but I can only afford what my bank account allows.)

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A Miracle Poinsettia Plant

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

This story is what keeps me from tossing my poinsettia plants into the trash:)

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Functional White Bedroom With Plenty Of Storage

From Pottery Barn

Modern Living In The Sky

For about $7,000 a month, you can live in this 1,000 square-foot, two bedrooms, two baths apartment in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.  All utilities and house keeping service are included. We find the contemporary decor inspiring.

How To Rebloom Poinsettias

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

New Year is over now and the Poinsettias that I bought are now bald and leafless.  I enjoyed the bloom so much during the holidays that I just can't bare to toss the plants into trash.  The plants still have green stems and they are still alive.  I think the reason they went bald is because they are going into a dormant stage.  So I am going to follow the advice of this video to see if my poinsettias will rebloom.

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Are Your Furniture Devaluing? Mine Are Devaluing Big Times!!!

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

Back in 2009 when I graduated college and moved back to the United States after spending a life time living abroad with my expatriate parents, I bought this dining table set with my own money from my part-time tutoring job. This dining table set cost me about US$480 back then, not including the delivery fees and assembly fees I paid to have the dining set assembled. Today, I see the same set being sold online for only US$144.99 + US$95.45 shipping.  I can't believe my eyes, but it's true that after all these years I can now buy the same dining set brand new for much cheaper.  Does this have anything to do with other countries' devaluation of their currencies?  I hear this topic being brought up a lot during the Presidential debates:)  May be this is why it's bad for us when countries like China devalue their currencies?  It's because it just makes all the furniture we bought lose their value.  When I move again, I will not bother to try to sell my dining set, I will just give it away....

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Martha Stewart's Christmas Living Room Tour

Christmas is over but we can't stop watching Martha Stewart's Christmas living room tour. We can watch this over and over until the Christmas in 2016! We love Martha.