I bought dirt! and more adventures in novice gardening

I’ve never had a passion for plants, nor do I have a green thumb (not sure which caused which here). But I took a look around our house and noticed the sad state of greenery – a few houseplants I do remember to water, but that had outgrown their pots and were looking rather lifeless. Perhaps it was the glorious burst of warm sunny weather that finally arrived that sent Morgane and I to the nursery to renovate our indoor plant decor. The nursery was buzzing with such excitement! Mostly people getting stuff for outdoors – now that is a whole other world I don’t dare venture into (annuals? perinnials? huh??) and leave to husband to handle. Morgane immediately found the coi pond, where I knew she would be mesmerized for long enough to allow me to get my bearings. I was starting off simple by finding some new pots to give our old plants a new lease on life, and became mesmerized myself by the selection of the coolest pots I had ever seen: greenPots by ecosource, all-natural eco-friendly pots made from rice hulls. Then Morgane and I went to select herbs; I was having visions of basil growing in big fat bunches so that I can make endless batches of pesto all summer. We also found mint; not just plain old mint, but chocolate and ginger mint. As we inhaled and compared aromas, I had more visions of topping ice cream with fresh mint leaves, adding them to fruit…lastly, we picked out a bunch of succulents because I figured they’d be fine in Montana’s dry climate. While I miss the lush orchids that we had all over our house in DC (it had to have been the lighting, it was like an orchid jungle and as I mentioned, I ain’t no gardener), I figured I needed to stay with something easy to care for as well. Added a big bag of dirt (I need to buy dirt? really?) and we were all set.

After the first round of planting yesterday, we went back for more today. Now I get why people love digging in the [store-bought] dirt so much. It was really calming. Not one for liking getting dirty (although I’ve gotten a lot better about that because there’s not much choice when you’re around horses), I actually relished digging my hands into it, scooping it, molding it around the plant roots after they were placed in their new eco-friendly homes. And showing Morgane how to do it was fun; she was very excited to get her own watering can so she can help water the succulents we placed in our bathroom. 
Pictured are a few of our stars. I may not have a green thumb, but do note the green Buddha.