Anne is our lovely guide this week, and she really made me think…a long time before deciding.

Let’s begin with the beginning…My grandmother is the person I owe maybe most of my interests to, and I loved her dearly. She worked hard on the land all her life, and she taught me everything about making things grow, and how to handle geraniums to make them thrive. I still have all her geraniums in my house, since 1988 when she left us. She loved everything living and loved to see me loving it too. I still miss her.

Anne made me think about the many things that have enriched my life. Nature, students, children, travel, art, painting, dogs and cats – and of course photography. Photography and blogging that have brought me so many friends from all over the world. You.

I could have picked any of these… but, what is here with me every day, making my life shine, making me useful? My plants!

Many of them comes from cuttings and seeds taken home and abroad, plants from faraway countries, from friends – living or long since gone. That is an important thing to me. Every time I water them or prune them or just look at them – I remember the friend who gave that plant to me. My plants are living memories keeping their former owner alive.

They are also my ”children” and I love watching them grow. It is about the same feeling with real children and students – making them thrive and grow makes me feel good. And whole.

My garden project is to make it a haven for flowers (especially wild flowers), plants, pollinators and birds. And my little hedgehog… Never is my smile bigger than when I see him walking around at dusk, drinking some water or poking his nose in the ground for a caterpillar or two.

These garden pictures are of course from another season, but I decided to take all the indoor photos yesterday – which means there are none of grandmothers’ geraniums as they are not flowering until April, May. But there are many others. (Text in the photos.)

Indoors I have more than 200 plants, and it takes a week every year to repot them. I usually do that in February – so they will make a good start when the sun goes higher in the sky.

I used to grow a lot of orchids, but have turned more into other species of interest, like Begonias, Hoya, Hibiscus and cacti. The ”bubbly” Begonia (begonia masoniana river) below the white Camellia is my newest and most rare one. Keeping flowers for their patterns is fun, dried flowers too. Of course I love to grow edible sprouts for the winter as well! And my granddaughter loves to see them grow that fast…

Upstairs is crammed with plants during winter when they have to reside indoors. I use special lamps to give them more hours of daylight, but I haven´t always used any extra light. I was surprised to see the difference though, and from now on my plants will have a better start the next Spring.

What has enriched and/or changed your life? That is your challenge this week. Please share with us your joys and passion of a hobby or life experience that helped you find your life’s passion! Remember to tag with Lens-Artists at Anne’s original post.

We really enjoyed your posts in response to John’s Pick A Word challenge last week. What a variety! Next week Ritva will present the challenge, so look for her post.

In the meantime, stay safe and live in gratitude!