by Katy Miller

Created on: August 08, 2007

Stop growing!

Boy, what a difference between the majestic Pacific Northwest and the sun-drenched (and I mean drenched!) home of the Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL! I have always prided myself in my ability to adapt to any situation so, with that in mind, my husband and I relocated our family to Orlando, Florida from Seattle, Washington in the summer of 2004.

Does anyone remember what happened that summer? A phenomenon that took over 130 years to repeat itselfa series of 4 devastating hurricanes hit the center of Florida, instead of the outside borders. You could have knocked me over with a feather! Or a 120 mile-an-hour wind, whichever comes first.

I am a once-a-week, good weather gardener with a full-time job and 4 kids. Growing up in the Northwest, I had every season exactly plotted outI knew all the different weather patterns and what they were going to do to my begonias, what annuals grew in as little light as possible and when to look for the new green shoots of the crocuses. When we moved to Florida, I felt like that TV show, Green Acres, with myself being the one kicking and screaming out the door. OK, yes, Florida has lots of trees, plants and rain. But how could they be so different?!

Immediately after we lost all of our trees after moving in, I decided to take the bull by the horns and start myself a-planting. What was I thinking? People don't plant in Florida in the summer they don't even go outside! After an hour in 95 degrees of pure humidity, I didn't even look outside until October. However, then I started to get excited because of all the different plants I'd seen in the stores and I was ready! I must admit, however, that most of these plants are very pointy, scratchy and not easy to plant in containers so when they passed away, I would throw them all in a pile in the backyard. There was no saving them, they were so gone.

Then I decided, yes! I can finally plant herbs that will grow and accent my lovely dinner dishes. So I planted oregano, sage, tarragon, basil, mint everything I could get my hands on that would taste or smell divine in my food. Unfortunately, I was still in a Pacific Northwest frame of mind, so I didn't check on them for 3 weeks. When I finally did, I had to wade through them because they had grown at least 3 feet! I tried desperately to use them all, give them away, make sachets with them but they just kept coming right on back! My husband, who is ruthless with a mower, couldn't get rid of them either and his family nickname is "plant killer".

So now I've had to make my peace with them and sometimes, when there's a breeze, they do smell pretty cool. I'm now on my way to the side of our house to plan a garden thereoh, for crying out loud, I don't believe it!

It appears I already have a garden there. Remember those absolutely dead container plants? They're gorgeousand as high as the roof!

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