We have a little bit of the end of our yard we're trying to get a little wilder than boring turf grass, but not so wild we get stinging nettle and poison ivy.

Thistles are unexpectedly pretty.

I have plants on and around the windowsills that face in compatible directions. Some are just decorative, and then I have a tomato, rosemary, ginger, and a pepper (mature plants), and then another tomato and a pepper that are recently sprouted.

Lots and lots of coleus because a piece will break off and I'll root it and get another plant. Anyone want one?

No garden (the building backyard soil is not safe for growing edibles). My wife used to container garden on our deck when we first moved here (tomatoes, peppers, etc.) but gave it up years ago when we no longer had a good garden center to get starter plants or soil from (the one we had moved out) or hardware stores to get supplies from (we have no full hardware stores in walking distance any more).

Inside its too shady, our side windows face other buildings across alleyways, except for one window in the front Living room, where she has some African Cacti and a spider plant that does okay on a side shadow window. All are ancient...20+ years old.

@Gregg Taylor bless you! Good for Albertsons. I can't believe how bad it's become. Even in our normally tolerant country of Canada where diversity is protected by our Charter of Rights, and we have enforceable laws against hate speech and violence, things took a turn for the worse starting ~ mid last decade.

Prior to that, there were times I actually forgot the colour of my skin (or how I look) because it wasn't a factor. Now being "Asian" means I'm conscious of people and activities around me (to minimize the risk of being victimized), avoid going to places of high risk, and occasionally have polite responses when I encounter hateful comments directed at me.

Can you believe how powerful misinformation is? I cringe when I hear the words "anti-Asian" because the prejudice is against everyone, regardless of where they were born, who happens to look like they or their forbears could be from the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, SE Asia, South Pacific etc. - a rainbow of skin colour. Isn't "Asian" being used today to denote everyone who is not white, black or latin? namely, the majority of people in this world.

Thank you all of you who speak up for equal rights for all and help protect vulnerable visible people who are targets of those who hate. ❤️

Back to the QOTD
Do you have a garden/grow plants on a balcony/terrace or have a green thumb in general?

I don't have a green thumb indoors. If there's ever a houseplant, it's because it's a gift from others. Right now there are 2 resident houseplants that have somehow managed to survive for a few months. Outdoors, I have my tangled garden - just an ordinary urban property, shaded mainly by trees. I've managed to find shade loving plants, mainly perennials. During summer I add a few veggies, a few splashes of colour from annuals and experiment (if I find something unusual to try growing). 😎

Can't garden any more because basement apartment and no yard - and I envy all of you who can. Have fun!

Supposed to be "on vacation" this week... but today is an apartment inspection by the city, so I had to get up and get dressed. NOT happy they are inspecting during a pandemic, but apparently refusal is not a tenant right.

Second COVID shot is scheduled for tomorrow... wondering how long it will be before we have to have booster shots because of the variants (they are testing them now.) As my very German grandma used to say: "It's a great life if you don't weaken."

Live in an apt with no balcony, so I have alternates to have growing plants in. Have three hanging pots in tough to reach spots for the cats. Plans are that this year I'll be able to plant some Catnip & a few other cat-safe plants without being rather concerned about a cat leaping for a hanging basket - we've had Nyssa and Mags for nearly two years...and while Maggie loves to climb, these spots have no possible access.

Learned a lesson with Kakarot, he was an expert leaper....maybe it's an orange tabby thing....

@V. T. Eric Layton Try your hand at useful weeds. Burdock, dandelion (edible roots, jelly from the flowers, salad from the leaves), chicory. You might also consider that a lot of "endangered wildflowers" are easy to grow when ignored and given the space; seeds are available through various programs. There's so many folks with an emphasis on edibles that people with your particular knack are needed for keeping the full diversity of nature fungible. ;)

My landlady is installing raised beds this week, so I can finally help with the gardening. We tried growing things in the back acreage, but my old body wasn't up to the bending required (it was more like farming than gardening). This will include a shelter for the windy season (which is half the year in West El Paso) and bringing in loamy compost from a friend/vendor who has too much. Landlady wants okra. I want cucumbers. Okra grows tall. Cucumbers grow low and/or vine up the sides of the shelter. There will be lots of other things, too. Tomatoes, likely. She works a lot with Native Seeds Search Native Seeds for stuff which will grow at the inner edge of the desert.

I miss the Seattle garden, with its peas and beans, cucumbers and pumpkins, roses and raspberries, thimbleberries, and plentiful herbs. There were fruit trees, too; two overbearing plum trees, a dying apricot tree (still slightly productive) with marionberries around the roots, and a medlar and blueberries in the front yard. The garden was the side yard; the rest of the front yard was given over to pollinator habitat and feeding, and so there were constant hummingbirds and lots and lots of bumblebees. I should love to have something similar to toddle around in the future.

We have a garden that I am slowly reshaping from "garden for family with two young children" to "garden for two adults". However, it is somewhat on hold because the next stage is putting in another path; we don't own a car, and can't get a friend/relative to offer lifts under current "don't spread pandemic" methodology, so can't get to a builder's merchant/garden centre to source suitable stony gubbins.

Herewith a picture of the pear tree of fertility:

@Gaffer We (ABATE) put on games and egg hunts every year in Tularosa, NM, not far from you. I left the area a few years ago so I don't know about last year and this year. It was always a fun time for me running games for the kids. The Easter Bunny would even come on the back of a Harley.

I took friends one year, a neighbor family. My little sweetie, Llyandra was scared of the Bunny and kept running to "Unca Tan" for safety. She was 4 or 5 at the time. The last time I saw her, she was sweet 16.

We only had a hill - to steep to work on - until last spring when we had it terraced. Now I am trying to create a scented garden. So far we have scents from:

• California native salvias (very strong scent.)
• Other sages (you have to rub the leaves to get the scent), including white sage
• Night blooming jasmine
• five kinds of citrus (including bergomot)
• heliotropes
• gardenias
• scented camillias
• onions
• roses
• mint
• etc

We have a lot of hungry deer, lots of gophers, hungry turkeys. So protecting stuff is hard.

We are also in a drought (again) so we lean towards drought resistant varieties.