[Friday – Ask the Experts] The Best, Smartest, Funniest and Only Plant Blog Panel of Experts Anywhere

Hello plantoberists, and happy Friday!

Welcome back to the Good To Grow site, and thanks for being here.

It’s been a long week, so it’s great to see Friday’s smiling face. I hope everyone has a good weekend on tap.

Since it’s Friday on the blog, that means we’ll have an all-new Ask the Experts Panel for you. We’ll also have the answer to last week’s plant puzzler, as well as a new one for you.

Let’s get the Friday Festivities started by saying hi to everyone. Hi Experts!

 

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Liza!”

You’re so cute! From left to right, that’s Andy Williams, Tim Thackaberry, EZ Ed Johnson, Dottie Correll and Lewis Casey. If you’d like to know more about them, please click here.

For this week’s question, I wanted to poll our Experts about valuable advice they may have received over the years. Here’s the question:

Q. Tell us a piece of advice that someone gave you to, or that you read or heard about, that’s really been valuable in your life.

Expert Andy Williams is normally up first, but he’s unavailable this week. If he gets a chance to submit his answer later this weekend, I’ll update the post in a jiffy. In the meantime, let’s admire his adorableness:

And move on to Expert Tim Thackaberry, and then Expert EZ Ed Johnson. Thack, what do you have to say?

A. My mother once told me something simple, and quite profound, that I find myself thinking of every day. To wit:

Life is always important, but never serious.

I have a tendency to take myself too seriously, and whenever I start to, I think of that simple statement. Helps every time.

A. A scribe’s life is a happy life.
and
Don’t take anything personally.

———————–

Thanks, fellas. I think that’s great advice.

Expert Dottie Correll is normally up next, but she is traveling and wasn’t able to submit an answer for us. HOWEVER, I’m happy to report that she came to Albuquerque!!!! And I was able to ask her in person what advice she thought was valuable. She answered off the cuff – here’s what she had to say:

A. “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” she told me. “Don’t make mountains out of mole hills, or some variation of advice like that.” She added, “Life’s too short to spend it worrying about everything.”

I had lunch with Dottie and several other people that I know through our Red Cross volunteering, and someone offered another piece of advice, which was “If you rest, you rust.” Which I’d never heard before and thought was cool.

Because it was so awesome to see Dottie and the others, I thought I would share some photos with you.

Here’s Dottie (on the right) and the wonderful, wonderful Carol goofing around:

And me with these two amazing ladies:

And the whole group (Carol, Dottie, Karen, Bob, Jan, me, Vic):

There was so much love and affection at this luncheon! I am very appreciative to know each and every one of these people – they’re all incredible and have devoted much of their adult lives to helping others. And they show no signs of slowing down.

Dottie, of course, it was a pleasure to see you. I’m already looking forward to the next time.

Ok then, now we should get back to the Panel. Expert Lewis Casey, you’re up next:

A. My Mother told me once or twice as I whined about this or that

“My son Shut up”

Be grateful for everything you got for it could be gone forever,

That’s so true, Lewis. (By the way, Lewis is also a Red Cross volunteer – another great friendship that stems from helping others.)

I loved everyone’s answers – thank you so much!

Readers, how about you? Have any advice you’d like to share that has been particularly valuable to you? Leave it in the comments section. I’d love to hear it.

That does it for this week’s Panel of Experts. Thanks so much for being here. The Experts will return next Friday with a Halloween edition of the Panel. They hope to see you back here.

Up next, the answer to last week’s puzzler:

???Real or Fake???

Last week, I asked if these Geraniums were real or fake:

Let’s see how you answered:

Claude from Random Rants and Prickly Plants wrote, “Those are real, and rather georgous. I like them. Youre gonna send them to the winner, right?”

Marlie Graves from the Ficus Wrangler site wrote, “Well now, that really looks real with all those different sized leaves and a little yellow here and there – much too purty to be fake.”

mr_subjunctive from Plants Are the Strangest People wrote, “Real yet again.”

Martha from the Plowing Through Life site wrote, “They look pretty real to me!”

Joseph Brenner from Texas wrote, “They don’t get any more real than that.(B>{D}”

That’s five votes real, zero votes fake.

What’s the correct answer?

Let’s take a wider view:

They’re real! And oh-so-pretty! Real plants are always better than fake ones. Fake plants are a waste of money. These Geraniums with their cheerful blooms brighten up this corner. I imagine anyone who passes by must appreciate the beauty of having flowers indoors during October. Hopefully, anyway.

Great job, everyone! You totally nailed that puzzler. I’m not surprised, with your sophisticated plant knowledge.

I’d like to show my gratitude for you playing by awarding each of you the following the prizes: The waning days of October, three salmon planks, five compliments on your wardrobe, one trophy made out of candy corn, moisturizing body oil, four accolades, a new pair of eyeglasses, time to spare, 15-1/3 bonus points, a box of crayons, Peña Blanca, one toothbrush holder, higher love, one backup ankle, a jar of happiness, one oversized sunspot, Dolores, seven yeses, pesto, a run of greenlights, one certificate of appreciation, two cheerful sloths, a bouquet of fall flowers, Juan Tabo Boulevard, your own personal symphony, a coupon good for half off a voucher, one piece of gum, six garlic plants, an early Halloween present, poetry, the title of “Plant Master Flash” for the weekend, eight more special moments, one classic Philodendron, a porch swing, one dollup of whipped cream, and seven blessings.

Congratulations, and thanks so much for playing!

Up next, a new puzzler:

???Real or Fake???

Is this plant real or fake?

Think you know the answer, smartyplants? Leave your best guess in the comments section. You have until midnight MST (that’s 2a.m. EST) next Thursday, October 30th to cast your vote. I’ll reveal the answer and the winner(s) after next week’s Panel of Experts. The prizes may be imaginary but the link to your site and the glory of winning are oh-so-real.

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