Well, I guess it has happened to all of us (and if it doesn't happen to you believe me, that day is just waiting for you) one day we are young and don't even worry about what we are going to eat, and the next we can't wait to buy new plants, compost, dishes and vitamins for our balcony garden.
That said, I must warn you that like every post of mine, this comes with a ✨Storytime✨
For months I had been crazy about trying to have a "cariaquito" plant on my balcony, the scientific name of this plant is Lantana trifolia. In the Venezuelan popular belief, this plant has mysterious properties capable of taking away the bad luck of those who are going through "a bad patch" or as we say in the village "those who are salty".
But my intention is not to check the grandmothers' tales, but to enjoy its exuberance and color every morning while I drink my coffee.
The thing is, I had already tried every possible way to get this plant to "take root" in my garden without any success. I tried all the "draft-in-5-minutes" planting tricks but this temperamental plant was simply laughing in my face and putting me in danger every time I visited the neighboring building's garden to steal a branch, find planting material.
I finally gave up and said to myself "I'll have to convince my mom to pay a visit to the greenhouse". The thing is, with my mom, things are not that simple.
A few weeks ago, I stole rescue plant from my mom's house, because I assumed that the poor thing was dying of thirst due to the fact that, being so big, it was outside the apartment and my mom forgot to water it. Now in my house it has turned yellow from so much water 🤡
Well, that was a sign for my mom that I "have enough space for more plants" and I ended up with three more, courtesy of my mom's garden 🤦♀
I thought I wouldn't be able to buy my longed-for plant, until the answer came to me. Hanging pots and that's it.
My dilemma solved, we set off on a family outing to a picturesque area of Miranda state, about two hours from Caracas, San Diego de los Altos.
This little known area is one of the vegetable lungs of the capital. Here nurseries abound and flowers grow naturally by the side of the road.
We went to a restáurate de paso that is just before arriving to the town of San Diego, because there are several very beautiful nurseries that are known to be inexpensive.
As this time we went with my father the purchase was free 😅 but we enjoyed a very well deserved family moment.
But here we also saw several curious handicraft samples, which caught our attention.
We also saw a cute little cat that during our whole visit did nothing but take a nap.
Finally, we loaded up our loot 🤴 and started our way back home.
Here is a sample of how I tidied up my garden with the new friends that will be joining me at home.
This is the cariaquito morado. As I mentioned above, popular legends give it special qualities to ward off bad luck, but they also claim that it cures several types of diseases (I just love it for its beauty).
This is another type of cariaquito, you can tell by the different coloration and shape of its leaves.
This is a sun begonia. I simply could not resist its beauty. According to the lady in charge of the nursery this beautiful flower needs lots of sunlight and little water.
The yellow flowers remind me of someone very special 👼 so I placed it in the spot on the balcony where there is more light, which is directly to the left of the computer, where I can enjoy its beauty while I work.
I hope my post has entertained you 😊 Have a nice week and don't hesitate to look for a new plant, I assure you it will give you a new perspective to start your day.
Kat-Nee (or the girl who forgets to take enough pictures because she doesn't remember she is now a content creator)
All photos were taken by me with my Redmi 8