David Rhoden

I got some dwarf bottlebrush shrubs for Gina.

. Day .

dwarf bottlebrush trees for Gina's birthday)

Gina's birthday is Monday, but I went shopping today.
The other night when she was really sleepy I asked what she wanted for her birthday. And she said, almost asleep: "....dwarf...bottlebrush...trees."
I love it when people tell you what they want, even if you have no idea what it is or if it's even something they dreamed up. I said "how many?" And she thought about it and said: "....Five."

So I called a nearby plant nursery and they had five. When I brought them up to the counter, the lady checking me out looked at me like I was way too stupid to be allowed to leave with a plant.

"These dwarf bottle brushes are picky. If they dry out, they're not coming back."
"OK. These are the plants that were requested."
"Regular bottlebrushes can recover, but fi the dwarfs dry out that might be it."
"That's good to know, I'll pass that along. Would they do well in wet soil? Like what a cypress would like?"
"NO. NO. Not like a cypress, absolutely not. The soil needs to be MOIST. Not WET."
"OK, I'll let the future owner know." She rang me up and said: "Have a nice day, sweetie."

Also I talked to a nice person in line who brushed me accidentally with a bird of paradise.
"Ow", I said, kinda sarcastically. I felt dumb for say ing it.
As we were leaving her car was next to mine. I wanted to say something else less stuupid. I decided to say that was a pretty plant. (It was.)
She spoke first. "Happy planting!"
I thought that was good, and I should respond, but I was also thinking "maybe saying 'pretty plant' is too much", so I said: "That's a cute plant."

dwarf bottlebrush trees for Gina's birthday)

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