Gardening with my mother,...and Jose....

Re- potting plants with my mother: In preparation for Joe's sister's upcoming visit, my mother announced, "I'm off to the nursery! I'm not having Alex stroll up my driveway, see my valley of potted death, and have her think I suffer from mental illness!" 

Sitting outside today, we prettied the pots with periwinkles, as I watched my mother's friend stop by for a chat. In our neighborhood, landscaping done by "actual homeowners" seems to be a dying trend. That being said, Mando (our neighbor's gardener) and my momma "talked shop" about honeysuckle's tendency to grow with wild abandonment and various fig tree fertilizers. At one point, my mom yanked out a bundle of dead flowers, which held onto a single thriving vinca entangled in its stems. Throwing the gaggle of dead flowers in the trash, my mother looked at the vinca and with pity said, "Mando, this little girl clearly got mixed in with the WRONG CROWD"!