Green Thumb ... or not.

I'd like to consider myself a natural at some things; gardening would be one of those things. For the past 3 years, I've tried my hand at planting perennials, annuals, bulbs, herbs, vegetables, trees and shrubs. I've definitely had my hits and misses.

For instance, last summer in my herb/veggie garden I planted zucchinis and tomatoes. I harvested a plethora of zucchinis the size of my forearm, but the tomatoes never even made it off the vine. I'm a pro at planting basil and can whip up a mean pesto; but my parsley (all three times I planted it this summer) became instant rabbit food. My hostas thrive, but I only had six tulips bloom this spring out of the 40 I planted two years ago.

But this takes the cake for sure. I just can't explain for the life of me what happened.

Here is a beautiful example of my gardening skills thriving in our front yard along our walkway to the house.

And here is an example of .... not so much.

Same plant, from the same Lowe's, planted the exact same way, and cared for with the same amount of love. Yet five of the six I planted totally died, while the one on the end thrived. It is like he ate the other ones or something. The "monster plant" has tripled in size too.

Please tell me this has happened to you all. It is obviously too late to replant now, so I'm just waiting until fall comes to plant some mums or something. I am open to any advice.