Botanist Extraodinaire!

This past year I have finally gotten around to working on the landscaping near our house.  Prior to this we had a "multi-purpose area".  That is a nice way of saying one section was a sand pit for my children to drive their trucks in and in the other part, 8 foot weeds for lurking snakes.  I admit, not the most desirable arrangement unless you are a snake.  I am finding that I have had so little success with planting in the past that I am not quite sure what to do with the plants that are flourishing.  I had no idea how much there is to know about maintaining them.  A friend told me I should give them plant food so I bought a watering can and fed them.  Several had an adverse reaction and it killed large sections of some of the plants almost immediately.  Oops.  Yesterday I decided it was time to trim back some of my over grown plants but I don't actually own any gardening tools.  I had to trim them with my kitchen scissors.  Then the scissors broke in half so I switched to a knife.  Despite my every effort to kill all my plants, these fellows are quite hardy and looking lovely still.  The best part is all the flowers.  Right now my Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas are blooming and they are beautiful!  Nothing brightens up a filthy home like a vase full of flowers, at least that is what I tell my husband when I explain why I don't need to clean.