Good Eggs

A friend recently gave me some hens and chicks -- not the egg-laying kind, but the succulent-plant version.  For the past few years, I've been adding hens and chicks and other succulents to the narrow flower bed that runs between our garage and front sidewalk, with the hope that they will eventually take over the landscape stone-lined area and make it perpetually green.  As time goes by, I am getting to be a lazier and lazier gardener, favoring plants that prefer to take care of themselves without too much of my intervention.  And I'm not alone. My friend Kitty and I had heard such a presentation at the Garden Expo in Madison, WI a couple of years ago.  What we learned was that as we age, we still like being surrounded by green things, but we want the freedom to be gone for a few days (or weeks, now that most of us are Empty Nesters), without coming home to brown, dead vegetation.  And, for those, like Larry and me, who have chosen condo-living, succulents can be a great way to enjoy some green in a planter or on a patio, without having to have a big yard.  So, three cheers for those "good eggs," my new "flock" of hens and chicks!