My mom likes to say this phrase when she sees a lot of green. It’s so sweet, and she learned it as a little girl, growing up in Italy: “Verde. La speranza non se perde, con il verde.”
Translated: “Green. You will not lose hope with green.”
I love how this is put. Today is the first day of Spring, and there’s definitely a lot of green (and hope) all around our home with the happy houseplants that I have been doing my best to care for. Over the last several months I’ve been slowly but surely building my collection. These are my table-tops so far.
Take one look outside from all the rain this season, and the hills of San Diego/Southern California are as green and as beautiful as they have ever been! It’s all looking so hope-filled. I’m loving it and do hope that the moisture really saturates the ground so that we can be free of fires this season. It’s the natural disaster that scares me the most.
Today, before the rain came and went, I took all the “gals” outside for a drink. (It’s OK. I’m always laughing at my own mom-jokes.)
When I decided that I wanted to put some living plants in our home, I really wanted to be a good plant owner. I have killed many-a-orchid and having a green thumb is something I’ve strived for versus been given a gift for.
My first step was to give away or donate every fake-looking plant, stem or decoration in the house. I learned about lighting and what works or doesn’t work in our rooms, about how often I should water. After a while, and only one diva-fern and one air plant dead, I got the hang of it, and now have a pretty nice collection of “babes” as I’d like to call them.
This ivy above, is what started it all for me. It’s really pretty, and did the job to boost my confidence as a plant-caregiver, because it kept thriving and making me feel like I could do this . . . and I’m doing it!
I hope you can enjoy a lot of green and lot of hope too. Happy Spring!
