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Plants Don't Need Perfection

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Just in time for the flower show: two beautiful bright orchid blooms, and three more about to burst open.

Now, my mom didn't enter this plant in The Flower Show, but it looks pretty enough to win. She keeps her orchids in a back bedroom when they're not in flower, near a window but out of bright sunlight, and she doesn't mist them as some experts say to do, but instead gives them a glass of water now and then when she thinks of it.

It just goes to show you that even if you don't fuss and fertilize and root prune and repot and learn every horticultural requirement, lots of plants can still survive and thrive; giving you years of pleasure and making your home a much prettier place inside and out.

So, when you go to The Flower Show, be impressed, be inspired, but don't be intimidated. Buy a plant or some seeds to sow - and remember that plants do most of the hard work themselves, if you'll just stay out of their way.

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