Personally I don’t think a date on the calendar brings bad luck. Frequently what appears to be bad luck is actually the result of bad judgment. When I rear ended the car in front of me many years ago it wasn’t bad luck. It was stupidity. Why did I take my foot off the brake at a red light? Maybe I was distracted by the Scotsman in the other bucket seat. When I don’t have a presentation ready and I have an article due and a blog to write – all on the same day, it isn’t bad luck. It’s procrastination (I almost said procastration. Entirely different. And as a general rule I am not but sometimes…..) We make much of our bad luck in my opinion. So on this day that is rife with superstition I’m looking at why this is a GOOD day.

I am alive. Therefore I can still change things that I don’t like about various aspects of my life and world. I have a job I love.

Part of the reason for that is I work with a group of people that in many ways are one of my many families. Which means moments of “Get out of my face or else!” and moments of “What would I do without you?” Just yesterday so many of them helped me get caught up with my own areas that I can take a breath now. And they are talented designers as well. I think Katie’s pots at the Lilly House with the beautiful foliage in coppers, bronzes, burgundies and golds accented with deep purple and orange flowers are going to be great. They are looking good already.

I’m anxious to see how everyone’s designs turnout as the season progresses. The tall plants in that image are Euphorbia cotinifolia, sometimes called tropical smokebush. Purple smokebush, Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, can be found on the north side of the main parking lot.

The connection between the common and scientific names is simple. The Euphorbia cotinifolia has leaves similar to the leaves of the Cotinus. So we have the specific epithet of cotinifolia, cotini – cotinus and folia – foliage. Foliage like cotinus. See? Euphorbia foliage on the left, Cotinus on the right.

It’s so simple.

I have wonderful mix of friends. Freaks, geeks, and uniques.
I like my biological family. It’s easy to love family but harder to like them enough you actually are willing to spend time with them.

I am planting lots of plants that are new to me in one way or another. New cultivars of species I’ve grown before as well as species completely new to me. This is a new cultivar of Colocasia esculenta called ‘Elena’.

It’s the first chartreuse elephant ear from this species. I think it will be beautiful. It’s chartreuse, of course it will be beautiful. Learning feels sooooo good.

I can listen to 2008 album releases from Dolly Parton – Backwoods Barbie (Bless her, she is a Barbie doll!), Madonna – Hard Candy (Oh yea, I want some of your Turkish Delight), and Donna Summer – Crayons (The queen is back). Any Grammy winners there? I don’t give a crap. Music is about what touches your soul or makes your booty bounce.

And lastly but not leastly, this is my momma’s birthday. I’d be a no-account son if I didn’t mention her when my blog entry falls on the same day. She would have been 88. Now perhaps I would have been born regardless of her existence (some things are just meant to be you know) but no doubt my love of gardening was greatly influenced by her. I’m sure she thought I was crazy and going to hell at the very least. But she never said too much. All in all we did fine considering how differently we viewed so much in the world. And we could always talk plants. She and zinnias are forever connected in my mind.