Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wendy's World

As I was walking down East Elm today, I noticed that there are a lot of flower boxes around that are looking particularly pretty.

Ours isnt yet one of them. It seems that my problems with the flower box at the Picayune office may become a point of fact for my springs in Prescott.

Just to bring everyone up to date, let me reflect on last years flowers. They were petunias. Pink petunias. And being the newcomer to the downtown area, I watched others to decide how much time, water and energy I could put into our little flower box. I diligently dug my fingers into the soil and watered whenever it seemed needed.

All that TLC promptly killed one of our five petunia plants. Our flower box went the entire year without looking anything nearly as pretty as most of our neighbors. My only consolation was that the chambers flower box looked even more sickly.

This year, I stoically ignored our petunias. I figured that if I wasnt touching them, they might actually have a fighting chance.

They all died.

Ive decided that its just like any other real estate deal. Its all in the location. I suggested that our flower box gets too much sun. Then someone pointed out the boxes at the entrance to the courthouse. Theyre in total sun all day.

So maybe its all the exhaust fumes from cars that park in front of our office. Someone pointed out the boxes on East Second Street where the log trucks are sometimes stopped for long periods of time.

So maybe its that were getting too much vibration from the railroad or that the box is too near the newspaper boxes or that we have a green awning.

Or maybe its me.

I asked for some different flowers - portulaca. I grew up calling this grandma moss because my grandmother grew it on her porch every year. It will grow on concrete and doesnt care if you ever even notice it. I figure I can make this grow, or at least that my occasional glances wont kill it.

Meanwhile, Im working to grow a few pitiful little plants at home. I have the occasional cucumber about the size of my thumb and a few tiny tomatoes. We actually have some promising watermelons, but we also have a retriever in the neighborhood who is wild about balls. Everyday, I expect to arrive home to find that hes playing his own version of fetch with one of my watermelons.

But my lack of growing skills doesnt mean Im not eating well. There are a couple of local folks who are dropping fresh produce off my way quite often and Im a regular shopper at our local farmers market.

Its funny though - none of them have invited me to take a look at their gardens. I guess word about the petunias has gotten around.