jimmy

I've always wanted a garden. I remember my great-grandmother grew all kinds of things in the back yard of her little northern California home, and how much fun it was to explore the plowed vegetable rows and help prune the rosebushes. Being the old-fashioned, sentimental, nostalgic person that I am, building and working a garden full of vegetables and herbs and flowers has been a life-long dream.

Problem is, I don't have a green thumb. My thumb has always been the farthest away from green one can possibly get. In fact, I can kill artificial plants. Seriously.

So imagine my excitement -- and panic -- when my handbell choir kids gave me this geranium...

Was this my chance? Could I affirm those kids' beautiful, beaming smiles by keeping their precious little gift alive? Or would they realize that they'd just sentenced this little plant to a long, slow and very painful death from neglect and starvation in the home of the world's worst gardener? I vowed to do everything possible to cut off my black thumbs and keep this little guy alive.

First, it acquired a name -- Jimmy. Not because it bears any resemblance to one of my most beloved piping instructors, mind you... but rather, because I couldn't remember what species it was when asked one day. "It's a jimmy, germy, something-or-other," I explained to the friend doing the asking. And hence, the name Jimmy stuck.

Second, it came with a small tag that said "medium sun and water." Learning exactly what constitutes "medium sun and water" in a high, sunny altitude like Colorado Springs proved quite a challenge for this desert-bred gardening hopeful. (In southern Arizona, after all, gardening constitutes merely raking colored rocks and carefully removing wind-blown trash from cactus spines.)

Well, I am here to announce to the world today that Jimmy not only still lives... but he has survived living with me for ONE YEAR! That's right -- the handbell choir gave me this geranium last May, at a concert to mark the end of our ringing season. He survived a move, a freezing winter, weeks without water while I was on vacation, and many other hardships, yet he's still going strong, and even began to bloom again last weekend. To mark his first birthday last week, I bought Jimmy this adorable new teacup-shaped planter. Someday soon I'll even attempt to re-pot him so he can grow even more.

Now we're planning another end-of-the-season concert, and I think Jimmy just may have to come as the guest of honor. After all, I think a front-row seat is the least I can do for the little plant that has restored my gardening hopes and dreams! :-)