Gardeners get really focused, to the exclusion of all logical brain function, sometimes......
Hollywood and I were on a gardening shopping day last summer when we spotted a grouping of some REALLY interesting
succulent babies (Interesting, because we always look for odd coloration, form, etc. We both love the purples, the blues, the pinks & the opalescents). This was a group of imports that were all BRONZE! Well, we snapped up those babies...(at TOP dollar).. what an unusual addition to our
growing collection!
We follow this ritual when we bring in new
plants ...We go out every day and check to see how the new guys are acclimating to their new home, talk to them, give 'em a little encouragement, you know....for a coupla weeks & then they're ready for re-potting, top dressing..little pat on the head, etc.
(Now, we joke that we live in some kind of a mini-vortex, here; every new
plant that comes to our garden loses all control...they almost immediately begin forming a
flower or start sprouting babies...it's amazing to watch)
Welp, these new bronze
plants (4 or 5 of them) did NOTHING.....Nothing! They sat in their little nursery pots looking like paintings..no action whatsoever. Wot a mystery! Were these a special breed from another continent? Another planet? They were so unusual and beautiful, and hey, we don't know everything...
Then one day....
A voice from the garden....."Jillie........?"
It was Hollywood, outside, bent in half, looking at the new bronze
plants REALLY closely.
"Jillie, I hate to be the one to say it...."
Me..."What?"
Her.. "This unusual coloration?"
Me....."Yeah, I love it."
Her...."Well, we now have the distinction of having purchased, at a premium price.....
((drum roll))
"...
plants that were already...
dead."
I put down things just like they really happen, pregnant pauses and all. 
