h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Let's go back in time. Last Summer, a rabbit was driving me crazy by eating the leaves off my precious plants . I did manage to save most of them by putting a mix of garlic, chili powder, and dishwashing soap on the leaves (rabbits hate all of those things, so using all of them at once is pretty protective), but I hoped I could find alternatives that would not need any protection at all.

I went on the Internet looking for attractive flowers that bunnies wouldn't bother. Peonies looked like the best option. I even found one on the discount rack at a garden store. I took it home, planted it, and watched it die on me. Or so I thought. Being lazy or exhausted, or both, I just left it there, thinking I would put something else in that location the next Spring.

This is next Spring, and guess what? There's this healthy plant where the peony was, and it has nice buds, and maybe it will give me some beatiful blooms this year. Yay!

Peonies are lovely, but very short-lived. The German name for them is Pfingstrose - Whitsun rose. Which means yours should be flowering in a couple of weeks. But, be warned, at Whitsun you get thunderstorms (so many Whit weekends where the milk went sour) and the buds fill with water. The weight of the water can break the stems.

But you knew that. Except perhaps the German word for them.

What colour are yours? They come in whites, pinks and striking reds.

I think they'll be pink.

It says somewhere that peonies can live for 100 years. Individual blossoms don't last long, though.

Maybe I should hope for my flamingo tree then. It looks proper dead, as my son would say. I think I may have killed it with kindness though

My friend bought a tortoise to see if it is really true that they can live for 100 years and more

I told him to buy more if he wants this experiment to be scientific

He answered he can't afford it on his pension

That reminds me of Esio Trot

He can correspond with other people who keep tortoises.

My singing teacher was a tortoise. He tortoise to sing.

Not all tortoise species live to 100. My daughter's tortoise is a Horsefield Tortoise - formerly known as a Russian Tortoise.

They typically live to about 70, so my daughter should be 90 before the tortoise passes away.

Dime store turtles don;t seem to have long lifespans in my experience.