Everything is coming up roses.

I have never been able to keep any plant alive. I have tried. Man, have I tried. When we first moved here, I thought a few plants would "liven up" our nasty abode. For those of you who need background, this is the apartment that had no heat except in the bathroom and the bedroom. The bathroom was not vented...you can only imagine.

So, Justin and I went out to the garden shop. We purchased two small sturdy plants. One was round and squat and the other was tall and thin. I decided to name them "Bert" and "Ernie". These little fellas lasted about 3 weeks. Sesame Street would have been ashamed.

Now we have a yard. Okay, more of a postage stamp but a yard nonetheless. Now, enter the Hound. He has urine that could melt iron. We have brown spots throughout our front yard thanks to him. I've been trying to get ideas how to cure these spots and have gotten some recommendations. My question to the public is, do I try to recover the areas in need or just face the fact that those areas have already come to the conclusion they wouldn't have survived too long into the new season and have just given up before the rest of the yard?

To take my mind off of the yard, I moved on to Butterfly Gardens. I'm looking for something easy to take care of and not too consuming. I need another distraction but not something that will have me out with a headlamp pulling weeds at 2 in the morning. Black-eyed Susans and something called Butterflyweed seem to be in the running but I'm not sure how to we're going to introduce them into the yard. This is where you would insert jokes about digging in dirt and putting in either seeds or bulbs. That is about all the terminology I know so if you have any suggestions for easing into gardening please send them my way.