Hello dreamsicles, and happy Friday! Welcome back to the Good To Grow site, and thanks for being here.

Yay for Fridays, right? Woohoo!

Let’s get right to the fun by saying hi to our Experts. Hi Experts!

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Liza!”

You guys are so cute! From left to right, that’s Tina, Thack, EZ, Dottie and Lewis. If you’d like to know more about them, please click here.

Today’s question is a typical January query:

Q. How are your resolutions going?

Expert Tina is normally up first, but she’s unavailable this week. So let’s admire her adorableness:

And move on to Expert Tim Thackaberry. Thack, here’s the question to you:

Q. How are your resolutions going?

A. For the first time in many years, my resolutions are going perfectly. I couldn’t be happier with how my expectations and reality are meshing completely so far in 2012!

Now, I’m not 100% certain, but I think this early success is directly attributable to the fact that I didn’t actually make any resolutions for the year.

Haha, that’s one way to score a W in the win column! Well played, ya goof!

Expert EZ Ed Johnson, you’re up next:

Q. How are your resolutions going?

A. Splendid. My resolution was to make no resolutions. I was tempted a couple of times, but I fought off the urge.

I think that’s smart. By making no resolutions, you can’t fail at them. That makes for an automatic W! I’m a big fan of your strategy, EZ.

The ever-charming Expert Dottie is normally up next, but she is unavailable to join us today. Let’s marvel at her sweetness:

And move on to Expert Lewis Casey. Lewis, what say you, fine sir?

Q. How are your resolutions going?

A.

How are you doing on your nEw yEArs resSoLUtiIoN.

 

I don”t need no stinking nEW yEaRs ResoLuTioN, tank you.

 Ican do jusst fien with outt some inane expectation of.

Oh I going to fly this year. I’ve been a fat caterpillar for just too long.

So I’m just going to climb up on the roof and jump off

Hoping my wings will sprout before I hit the ground.

 

I awake each morning thankful of the sun,

Joyful that I have another day to prepare for my Friday’s rite of passage

The fantastic world of Good to Grow, Ask the Experts.

 

I do ride the bus to work many days and walk home.

I got no wings yet, us fat caterpillars need the exercise.

I am excited about Spring, I yearn for the dirt,

Be gone 2012 naysayer the world is a wondrous place.  

Wondrous, indeed, Lewis. I’m sure our readers are wondrous about you as a caterpillar sprouting wings. Pretty sure they’d want me to put that in the win column this week.

Expert fellas, you’re all winners in my book, so congrats, and thanks for playing. We appreciate you being here. For playing this week, I’d like each of you to have one new resolution (of your choosing), an affectionate pinch on the cheek, two follow-throughs, a dunk, three silver whispers and a merry new year. You’re all wonderful, thanks again for playing.

That does it for this week’s panel of Experts. The Experts will return in exactly one week.

Up next, last week’s puzzler:

???Real or Fake???

Last week, I asked if this Orchid was real or fake:

Let’s see how you answered:

Terrence from Dynamic Gardening wrote, “The orchid looks fake a.k.a. artificial. The leaves especially looks to perfect.”

Ivynettle from Letters and Leaves wrote, “Definitely fake!

Also, yay, a pretend black cat! I no longer have my (also black) work-cat, so I suffer from serious cat-withdrawal.”

Mom from New Mexico wrote, “I’m going to say real because orchids do bloom bottom to top like that.”

Tom from Theatrum Botanicum wrote, “Fake! Those leaves seem awfully plasticy”

Nancy Popp Mumpton from Arizona wrote, “Fake! I do have a real phal like that from last year that has developed a new bloom stem. My first re-bloom ever. I’m pretty proud here in dry ole’ Phoenix!”

Martha from Plowing Through Life wrote, “I’m going with fake this time. The leaves seem very small for this type of orchid.”

David the Desert Dweller wrote, “Real!”

mr_subjunctive from Plants Are the Strangest People wrote, “The flowers are awfully realistic, but the leaves say fake.”

Claude from Random Rants and Prickly Plants wrote, “fake. the leaves just don’t look right. and keep your imaginary black cat… I have two real black cats and I don’t need any imaginary ones…”

That’s seven votes fake, two votes real. Who’s correct? Let’s take a closer look at the Orchid:

You might miss the plastic tag hanging off one of the flowers, but you cannot escape how plastic the leaves are. That is one fake Orchid. The flowers don’t look too terrible, but the overall look of the fake plant is weak. That’s the problem with fake plants – up close (and often from a distance), they’re just plain ugly.

Your eyes are sharp, and even if you answered incorrectly, your logic was sound. Nicely played, all of you. Terrence, you were first with the correct answer, so you are this week’s overall grand champion of the plant blog world. Good job! You may multiply all prizes by one trapeze.

I’m grateful to all of you who played, win or lose, so this week, everyone has earned three winning smiles, a planterrific day, 16 bonus points, a pretend greenhouse, one resolute week and four cheers. Claude, even though I think you should’ve considered that your cats may have wanted an imaginary friend of their own, I’m going to give Ivynettle your imaginary black cat prize from last week. Ivynettle, you’re welcome.

Also, I’d like each of you, including our Experts, to add the following epithet to your name for the next week: the Plantabulous Grooviest. For example, David, if you go to meet with a new landscaping client, you should introduce yourself as David the Plantabulous Grooviest. I’m sure it’ll help your business and not scare away potential clients at all.

Thank you to each of you for playing, you’re the Plantabulous Grooviest!

Up next, the new puzzler:

???Real or Fake???

Is this plant real or fake? (Image taken with my phone camera.)

Think you know the answer, smartyplants? Leave your best guess in the comments section. You have until midnight next Thursday, January 26th, MST (that’s 2a.m. EST) to cast your vote. I’ll reveal the answer and the winner(s) after next week’s panel of Experts. Remember, the prizes may be imaginary but the link to your site and the glory of winning is oh-so-real.

I’ll be back manana, hope to see you here.

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