Fun Monday - Pasttimes

Joangee is our host this week:

Fun is the theme this week. Toys, games and pass-times. If like me you have pets, and/or children which are their favourite toys? Photos please... Or what are your favourite pass-times?

If you've been reading for a while, you know I have LOTS of things I do in my spare time. Home improvement is my major pasttime - painting, plumbing, swinging hammers and patching walls (not always cause and effect!). I also enjoy cleaning - it produces an almost zen-like atmosphere in my soul.

But recently, I've taken up a new pasttime: Gardening.

I've never been any good at it. Of my container garden, perhaps the less said the better. My datil peppers didn't come up. My tomatoes did, but then mysteriously disappeared immediately afterwards. I resorted to BUYING tomato plants. My cukes and squash also emerged from the soil but something is eating my cuke plants and I can't even find what it is!!! Vegetables are obviously not my forte.

So I've turned my attention to the more decorative side of things. You can't go wrong in a garden if you have some kind of statuary in it!

Little Bear came to live in my depressing rose garden that was in Wakulla. The roses never worked, but Little Bear has survived.

This handsome pair was an anniversary present from my mom. Please note BLOOMING petunias at their feet!

Mom said that anyone who has a gnome in her flower bed would appreciate the flamingos. This handsome guy watches over my impatiens.

Knockout roses are impossible to kill - making them the perfect plant for me!!!

And aloes would take over the world if given half a chance. They get that chance in MY garden!

This gerber daisy (a housewarming gift from my grandmother back in 1995) is a true survivor! I thought it was dead, so my husband threw it into the woods. Several years later, he came across it, alive and well and thriving. He dug it back up and it lives in a pot in the flower bed. It dies back after each bloom and we patiently await its resurrection rather than tossing it out now.

This was an accident. The former owner of our house planted a bunch of bulbs in a most unfortunate place. I'd been meaning to pull the things out as the only thing they did was green leaves. Until this year. THIS year we've had several lilies and this gorgeous pink amarillis.

The secret to my success? Choose plants that survive almost anything, including a nuclear blast, pull the weeds out from time to time, and ignore it the rest of the time. In MY world, that guarantees a lovely garden. I just add a chair and a nice cup of tea.

Go visit Joangee to see what the rest of today's participants fill their time with.