Hi there! My name is Angela (you may have guessed) but for short, you can call me Angie. I've been writing on the internet for fun since 2001, and for fun/professionally since 2009. This blog is full of things to read, but focuses on writing in all it's facets. 
Crazy plant lady post, take one – Brown cactus isn’t really brown.
Droopy, brown cactus in a weird basket.
Perky, plump and turning green!
I was wanting a cactus for a long time, but since they don’t naturally grow here in the temperate and somewhat soggy land of Ohio, they’re kinda pricey. They are expensive for a little one, so imagine trying to get a big one. This guy is definitely from another land and I spent a whopping $4 to make him mine.
We took a trip to Kansas at the end of February to visit my husband’s side of the family and our nephew (a little business man in training) was selling some cacti someone gave him for .15 cents each. When he found out that I wanted one of them, he hiked the price up to $15! Since I’m not Mrs. Moneybags, I managed to talk him down to $4. That 9-year-old drives a hard bargain.
It was in that weird basket without much dirt and I finally broke down and bought some potting soil and a better container for it. Yesterday I took my plants outside on the balcony to get some real sun, but I didn’t bring them back in before I left and it started raining. Luckily, it didn’t rain too much, but I was worried about my cactus. My jade plant died because I watered it twice within a 2 week period and it got root rot. Jades are succulents, so they don’t need as much water and of course, cacti are the same way. It surprised me today, though. That brown color that it was when I bought it isn’t really its natural color. It was brown because it was just waiting for it to rain again!
Besides my fail with the jade plant, I’ve had the most luck with plants that don’t need as much water. I used to be really forgetful with the water, but my mom gave me a starter for a schefflera plant and I’m intent on not killing it. Growing things isn’t as easy as you might think… water, sunlight, too much sunlight, too much water, bad pH balance in the soil, etc.
My mom has always had a jungle in the house and our yard was always gorgeous in the summer time. I don’t have her green thumb but I started to miss having plants around, hence my growing interest in growing things.