April Showers and May...Snow Showers???

I don't know about all of you, but I remember the rhyme in school going something like: April Showers Bring May Flowers.  So...I have decided to plant flowers this year, for the first time.  Well...other than Marigolds. :)  Those were the only flowers that I could get to grow...and something tells me that is because my parents watered them for me outside when we didn't get rain...I have never had a green thumb.  Far from it, actually.  I could never get my flowers to grow when we would try to grow them in school.  I would either water mine too much, or not enough.  Then, finally, in fourth grade, my flower finally grew...because my teacher helped me water the flower.  I was so excited.  Finally I had something to bring home to my mom other than a wilted would-have-been flower that was either dead or nearly dead in a Styrofoam cup.  My dog, Dollie, would wait for me at the bus stop every single day.  Usually she would come just to the top of our hill, and then run to greet me; but other times she would get tired of waiting and be waiting at the turnaround right where the bus dropped me off.  That was the case, this particular day.  I stumbled off the bus (like normal), with my bag on my back, flower in one hand, and holding onto the rail for dear life with the other hand (the steps were big on those buses, which always seemed strange to me since we were little kids...).  Together, Dollie and I started our voyage across the field, and all of a sudden, she leaped up, grabbed my flower and ran off with it.  I screamed at her, but she must have thought it was funny...so all I could do was just stand there, in the middle of the field, watching her chomp at the Styrofoam cup, dirt flying everywhere, and my flower demolished.  With tears streaming down my face, I went home and told my mom what had happened.  She laughed, really hard...she tried not to, but looking back, if that had been my daughter, and she couldn't get anything to grow, I probably would have laughed, too.  I haven't tried to grow any flowers since. 

So, here we are, eighteen years later, and I'm ready to grow flowers again.  My great, great aunt (Aunt Dode) used to have these gorgeous flowers in these barrels.  They were vibrant, full of different textures, colors, and utterly gorgeous.  My mom said that she asked Aunt Dode once, "How do you plant those beautiful barrels of flowers?!?!"  Aunt Dode simply responded, "Well, it's really easy! Just pick out a bunch of flowers and colors that you like and stick them all in a pot, together!"  So she did.  My mom also had these beautiful barrels of flowers.  She would get a variety of textures and colors, and they would be absolutely gorgeous!  So I took her with me last weekend when I went shopping for flowers.  Good thing, too, because she reminded me about a few things with those barrels: Texture, spikes, and a plant or two that will drape over the edge of the barrel.  She also saved me a ton of money. 

As you can see, the spike in the middle adds a lot.  I love the frosty looking green plant, too.  I'm new to this, so if you know the names of these plants, more power to you.  I also bought some greenery that would drape over the edge eventually.  Then I bought some Pansies in honor of my grandma and my great grandma (they are their favorite flowers), Snap Dragons (because they are pretty and bright), and some Inpatients...because I like them.  : )  I planted them almost immediately when I got home, and then, yesterday, I woke up to this:

And this:

So, as you can see, they have been moved inside for the time being until Mother Nature decides to let Spring come back...

After wrestling the pot of flowers inside, Guinness decided to try to make the flowers a meal, so I had to move them into the spare bedroom...Thinking that my morning was frustrating, I asked my mom how her commute to work was.  This was her response...can anyone else relate???  I know I can...

I went slow – went through rain, snow, ice and sleet.  My walk from the parking garage to the office was actually the worst part.  Icy and windy – bent my umbrella and then the wind grabbed it and it pulled me into the parking garage!  I felt like Mary Poppins!