I don't know when I fell in love with flowers and plants but I do remember as a youngster going to Miami Beach with my family and being in awe of all the wild Bird of Paradise plants and multi-colored flowers. There was also our summer home in New Jersey and I can still smell the peonies in front of the house.

I think, though, that I really got involved with all of it when Johnny and I lived together in Memphis. We had hanging plants all over the townhouse and he was constantly working in the backyard patio garden. I found myself bringing home plants.

It was when I moved to Gateway, here in Fort Lauderdale, that I really went all out after seeing how many residents made their own gardens outside of their ground floor apartments. I started buying all sorts of plants putting many outside on my walkway. Indoors I not only bought plants I would grow heads of lettuce, stalks of Romaine lettuce, green peppers or I would also break off a stick off the Hibiscus bush outside, stick it in a pot and watch it grow, put out buds and flower.

When we got new owners we also got new rules and no longer do you see any flowering bushes, trees, resident's gardens or plants out on my walkway.

I do have 28 plants in my apartment from Geraniums to Begonias, Cuban plants, Aloe and Christmas cactus, a miniature pine tree and I just 'buried' some tomato seeds in a pot.

Nothing, yes nothing, makes me feel better than seeing flowers in bloom and if you ever want to get me to do something bring me flowers or a plant!