Greenery...

The cold that I shared with my Mother has left me with quite a bit of congestion in my head and in my chest. So, yesterday I was given a new prescription, azelastine.  My!  Does it pack a drowsy wallop.  I took the second dose early in the morning to hopefully sleep it off.  Sleep, I did, but I have been drowsy all day.  It's time to take another dose and I wonder if I am going to acclimate to this or not.  Wow!

Today, I woke to calls from more team members from the Parkview RN Care service.  I had messages from a social worker, with whom I got to talk to later, and someone from the medication assistance team.  I already know that I do not qualify for medication assistance—disability is over the Federal poverty limit—but I am actually looking forward, I think, to meeting with the social worker in a couple of weeks.  I have longed for a support group for chronic illness.  Such doesn't exist at Parkview, but I wonder if there is any way for me to help get one started.

The weather is turning unbearable tomorrow.  The 90s fell me something fierce.  So, I shall be spending my days huddling with the air-conditioning.  And Amos, of course.

The timing is just awful, but the alum blossoms are nearly gone and if I am going to figure out which bulbs are alum (as opposed to the tulips), I've got to do it soon.  Certainly not tomorrow.  But maybe we will have a tiny respite from the weather.  I really would like to transplant them out of the tulip bed and into another location.

I am trying to soothe my gardening impatience with reveling in the loveliness on the front porch that Mother helped me to do.

I have been putting annuals in the six pots on the front ledge of the porch, but I decided to put succulents in them in the hopes that I could winter the plants in the solarium and eliminate the cost of replacing plants every year.

This one is the only one that was tall.  It is so spindly!

A good gardener would know what all of these are.  I think, though, that this might be Hens and Chicks??

I liked how delicate this one looked.

This one looks prickly.  But mostly it already is growing toward the light, so I rotate the pots each day.

Of course, I cannot resist anything that is variegated!

The rest of the empty pots are filled with annuals.  Mother picked out six different types and filled the rest of the pots.

And the two hummingbird planters.

Mother also helped me get all the wintering plants down from the solarium to the front porch, like my beloved String of Pearls.  I just LOVE how much it LOVES spending the winter in the solarium.  This grew from a 4-inch pot a few years ago!

Three of the plants will be remaining in the solarium year round, now, because of their size.  One is my jade, which has grown from a tiny three-leaf, withered, neglected misery into this splendid specimen.  My staking is not all that impressive, but the Jade certainly liked being supported over the winter.

I don't know what this is, either, but it is from pieces that broke off from my succulent hanging basket.  I put two small pieces in the pot two years ago and now it is this fat, happy plant.  Actually, there were two more lingering pieces to the plant, but I cut them off to give to my mother so she could make her own pot.  What I find interesting about this succulent is that it sure does like water.  This pot has no drainage, but that has not been a problem.  Clearly.

Someone admired my GREEN thumb on Facebook, but I quickly let her know that I have killed my share of plants.  I just focus on the ones that do not die.  For the most part, my giant spotted begonias and succulents do well in the solarium.

I actually have two pots still empty.  When I find the energy, I want to put a few cuttings from the hanging basket to make more of these plants.  That way, I'd have more permanent plants on the front porch and less potting to do in the late Spring.

Still, I love that I have a porch full of greenery.
Happy greenery.
Contented Myrtle.