Tomato Tomäto

Aiden got one of those 99 cent mini-tomato plants in his stocking last Christmas (all it said was, "Tomato," not the type, not anything). So the next day, we fixed up the little 3-inch pot and sat it outside. Sure enough, a few tiny stalks began emerging after a couple weeks. That's about as far as these mini-plants normally go before flopping over and going in the trash. But not this time: It kept growing... and growing... and growing. Now, almost eight months later, our first tomatoes emerged and have now turned red! I'm looking forward to me and Aiden splitting this for a midday snack soon. : )

I Heart Hydrangeas.

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite blossoms, hands down. I wanted to use them in our wedding, but they were hard to come by for a reasonable price in October. Can't you just imagine a gorgeous hydrangea bouquet of vintage purples and greens? (::sigh::)

Anyways, I was so excited to hear that my sister-in-law, Megan, was planning to use blue hydrangeas for her wedding this past May. The aisle was lined with these gorgeous, lush plants with huge bright blue blossoms; and to make it better, I got to take two of them home with me! So I immediately got them planted in the front yard, and they looked magnificent. I must mention that North Carolina's red clay for soil didn't help much with this task. I had to pitch rocks and clay over my shoulder in order to get them planted (not pleasant). Martha's Vineyard is covered with hydrangeas everywhere you look; I'm so envious of their sandy soil and cool climate.

A few weeks after I planted them, however, the heat of summer totally killed my blooms and "burned" a bunch of the leaves, so I had to significantly prune them back and start from scratch. Two things I've learned about these flowering plants: 1) They are one of the prissiest, most high-maintenance plants on this earth, and 2) They can look completely dead and you can cut them back to nothing, but they'll grow back eventually. Now that the roots of the plants have become more established, and I'm watering them like crazy (every day), they've started coming back in full bloom. And to my delight, they decided purple is the new trend this season.