The climate and plant life here remind me of my childhood in the Philippines, hot and dewy and lush. I appreciate this environment on an intellectual level. On a physical level, I'd describe it as 'uncomfortable' and 'sticky.' On the upside, the plants are awesome. They have beguiling names like Carolina willow, darling plum, wild tamarind and black mangrove.
I'm getting more into plants because my husband has a very green thumb. He's kicking our new garden into shape and it brings him so much joy. He spent a good long time at the Home Depot nursery weighing the pros and cons of different ground covers and shrubs. I pointed at a little pot of rhododendrons and said, "I would like some pink flowers by the front door." And he got it for me. Sweet man.
We're also hunting for nice green plants for inside the house. It's difficult finding plants that will thrive indoors and also won't kill my cat. I have the ASPCA's list of toxic and non-toxic plants for cats on my phone and have to look up every single plant. All the beautiful indoor plants we ended up liking also turned out to be extremely poisonous, like the weeping fig. It took us a while before we found our first cat-safe indoor plant, the Kentia palm. Kinzie immediately fell in love with it and melted my heart.
