Those who have been reading my blog for a little while may have remembered this post where my friend some guy I know, named Greg, blessed me with this gorgeous hanging basket. It contained three of my most hated plants.

As expected, being the gardener that I am, I set about to nurture these plants regardless of my own prejudices. I hung them for all to see on the refuse pile that was growing in my front yard and loving cared for them. I would steal myself away from the plants that I love just to whisper sweet nothings to them - sweet nothings like "You'll never make it this garden, pal!" or "When you become a REAL plant, I'll start paying you some REAL attention."

But, no matter how hard I tried, these poor unfortunate specimens of the instant-garden-makeover world took their last breath just before Christmas. Even now I can't resolve whether it was the RoundUp® or the lack of water that finally got them. It's been a painful time for the whole family.

I started to feel really bad about myself, knowing that my friend this guy had gone to such great lengths to impress me with his gardening prowess. So it seemed only right, as a gardener and as TRUE friend, to bless him with something that he could enjoy in his garden.

I considered;

• Painting his lawn Hot Pink


• Planting an invasive species in his garden


• Filling his water feature with bubble bath, and even


• Releasing a ton of snails into his veggie patch

But, I'm a nice guy. So instead of fuelling any ill-feelings between us I thought I would act like the UN and be a peacemaker in this situation.

So, I decided this could be a teaching moment for Greg and I could introduce him to what a REAL plant looks like.

Here is Calibrachoa 'sunbelki' (Million Bells® Golden Chimes) which is going to produce an awesome display within the next few weeks and continue to bloom for 3 of the four months each year.

This is a real plant Greg, not those gimmicky wannabes. I'll give it him later today, probably after he's read this post...LOL