A bouquet I aspire to, modeled by my daughter, Lucy.

Last summer, the book Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms first came into my life. I skimmed through the gorgeous pictures and "Oohed" and "Aahhed" over them, and Erin Benzakein's story. Unlike Erin, I didn't have a grandmother who loved to garden, but I can't remember a time when my own mother didn't have plants scattered throughout the house.

I have always loved plants, they just haven't always loved me. I have killed so many houseplants, mostly because I would pick up a cute plant at the grocery store or local nursery, find a bare spot in my house that needed a cheery plant, and plop it there without knowing what the plant needed but satisfied that it looked good. My husband has called our house plant hospice before, but after killing a baby fiddle leaf fig tree from Home Depot (that one hurt) I started researching every plant I bought.

Did you know plants needed to be placed near windows? Haha, but seriously though, I cringe thinking about the many, many, plants I have murdered by sticking them in a hallway with no sun (not to mention the time I put a succulent in a steamy bathroom)... I knew I was killing them but I loved them to death.

Little by little, my very limited knowledge of plants -and how to keep them alive- grew. I have learned here in Washington it is much easier for me to keep plants alive outdoors and some of my plants have even... thrived. Wow, I can't believe I just typed that (hold on while I go find some wood to knock on). I still kill plants now and again, but doesn't everybody? 

This year I am bound and determined to follow Erin Benzakein's advice and start my own cut garden. Please wish me luck and check back in if you want to see how it goes...