After digging her 2 foot deep two foot wide hole, Audrey grabbed the pan she had brought with her. She carefully placed it into the salt water she's obtained from her mother via owl, hoping she would have some Blue Lace blossoming soon. She had just grabbed a handful of the beautiful Water Plant. Audrey carefully laid the handful into the pan. "Salvio Hexia" she said, just to protect her precious plant from trouble makers. "I'll come back to you soon Blue." Audrey whispered. 'On to the next one for homework' thought Audrey as she scurried to find an open spot in the garden.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

Lexi grrrrriiiiiiined as she watched Ivan drink his water. That's right... drink it up stupid boy. DRINK IT UP! MWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Attention turning back to Tuney she nodded her head. "Sure thing. Wouldn't miss it for the world," she said with a smirk.

Neptune appreciated Lexi's enthusiasm for a task she didn't even KNOW about. Giggle. Little did Denver know that they'd be digging. And by "they" she clearly meant Lexi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinn-O-Bun

Seemed like he was going to need to find something else to occupy his time instead of annoying Neptune and Lexi. Ivan took another sip of his water and watch the two talk about going to the Garden.

He smiled as Neptune thanked him, "Nothing to thank me for yet I haven't given you your gift." And it was awesome and she would LOVE it...well he thought she would. Hmmm. Wait. Him, smelly? What?

"Well I have just been running," he said drinking some more water. He shook his head and smiled as Neptune ordered him outside. "Yes, ma'am," he said with a smirk as he finished his water and threw the bottle away. "Lead on Ms. Bott."

...Or Ivan. Giggle.

Neptune HAD lead the fellow Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor like a Birthday Girl Grand Marshall. She checked inside her book again, then left the path. "I didn't think to look up a digging charm." Just wasn't something Neptune Bott ever expected to NEED. "You two know one?"

Neptune patted the ground with her toe. Should be RIGHT there.

"I don't... but I could transfigure something into a shovel I think..." she said after a moment's thought as she caught up to Tune. "What are we DIGGING for?" GOLD? WERE THEY DIGGING FOR GOOOOOOLD?

She couldn't help it...

Giggling she turned to look at Ivan and smiled. "How about you, Lord Vorpatril? Would you dig a hole for the lovely Miss Bott?" HEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHE. Sure he would. So Says Lexi Denver.

Ivan followed Neptune outside with a grin on his face. YAAAAY more time with Neptune. He stopped at the garden with them and looked around with Neptune for...well he wasn't sure what for really but she was looking for something.

Wait digging? Ugh not his favourite past time. But he was being asked to dig for Neptune. "Of course!" he said a bit too eagerly and without a care about his clothes getting dirty. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the ground where Neptune's feet were. "Umm...Might want to move Tuney. Don't want to have to rescue you as well," he said with a smirk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

"I don't... but I could transfigure something into a shovel I think..." she said after a moment's thought as she caught up to Tune. "What are we DIGGING for?" GOLD? WERE THEY DIGGING FOR GOOOOOOLD?

She couldn't help it...

Giggling she turned to look at Ivan and smiled. "How about you, Lord Vorpatril? Would you dig a hole for the lovely Miss Bott?" HEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHE. Sure he would. So Says Lexi Denver.

"Uhmm.... well.... actually... Jimmy buried my birthday present out here." Neptune shrugged. This was how they worked now, see? He'd rather bury her gifts outside in February than deliver them himself.

Though, to be fair, Neptune was pretty excited about her little treasure hunt. Maybe... this ... would make up for the poem that made her sad? Maybe!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinn-O-Bun

Ivan followed Neptune outside with a grin on his face. YAAAAY more time with Neptune. He stopped at the garden with them and looked around with Neptune for...well he wasn't sure what for really but she was looking for something.

Wait digging? Ugh not his favourite past time. But he was being asked to dig for Neptune. "Of course!" he said a bit too eagerly and without a care about his clothes getting dirty. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the ground where Neptune's feet were. "Umm...Might want to move Tuney. Don't want to have to rescue you as well," he said with a smirk.

....

Giggle.

Neptune flashed a look to Lexi, grinning, then moved out of Ivan the Eager's way. "I know I'm the birthday girl and that demands a certain amount of pep in pleasing me today, but..." GIGGLE. If he wanted to dig, Neptune was DEFINITELY going to let him. "Careful though. Might be something breakable." Dig away!

Nika walked around the grounds until she found her way to the student garden. She headed towards the shed, this time with her own gloves, and looked inside. It was harder to decide which plant she would grow this time, but in the end she was able to find some seeds to a plant that she decided would be fun to plant. She took out the seeds and also a shovel as she made her way back to the patch of dirt.

Using the small shovel she created a small hole in the ground where she put her honking daffodil seeds. She loved regular daffodils and these ones looked like the would be the same type of thing so eh, why not give it a try. Once she had the seeds in the hole she covered it up with some mooncalf seeds. This stuff might as well work so that these plants would grow fast. This way all of Hogwarts will be able to hear their loud honks of joy. She smiled as she whipped out her wand and did the ever useful, "Aguamenti" spell.

Then she watched it for a little longer before adding some sprinkles of fertilizer and heading back to the shed to put everything where they belonged. She headed back towards the castle and couldn't help but feel a feeling of accomplishment knowing that she helped the Earth by planting things. Hehe. She felt all mother nature-y.

Lexi could barely hold in her giggles. This was going to be HILARIOUS! Hi-larious.

GIIIIIIIIIGGLES. Lex just giggled. She couldn't tell Tuney what she had done just yet... but she would. She wanted to see what happened first. Hehehe.

UGHHHHHH. Jimmy. He had half a mind to break it regardless with accidentally using the wrong spell but he knew that'd only make her mad. that's alright HE'D make Neptune happy at least.

He turned slightly red at Neptunes comment and pointed his wand at the ground choosing not to look at her. Yes HE was embarrassed. "Defodio," he said quietly holding it for a few seconds before dropping his wand. That should be deep enough.

Hearing Lexi giggle he looked at her oddly and then at Neptune with a GRIIIIIIIIIIIIN. See what he did???!!! SEE SEE SEEEEEEE!

Neptune couldn't HELP but giggle along with Lexi. She hadn't the faintest idea what exactly was funny .... but giggles beat thinking any day.

"Are you blushing?" Neptune asked, STUNNED. TOTALLY stunned. The big blue BOTT eyes widened. Ivan was forever making her blush, never the other way around. EVER. She giggled allll the way over to hole and gave Ivan a quick 'thank you' hug.

Now.... for extracting birthday present #3. She pulled her wand out and cast a quick drying charm on the ground then knelt down by the hole. The top of the box was already visible and Neptune let the rest of the world slip away while she reached into the Ivan-made hole for her gift. Neptune dusted it off before placing it into her lap. It would have been nice to be alone to open the box alone, but if she had to share .... Ivan and Lexi were okay.

Neptune popped the lid open and to her GREAT delight, BUTTERFLIES came fluttering out. They lightly landed on her hair and around her, then flew off on their merry way. She wished they would have stayed... but all good things, right?

Speaking of good things ending, the delight from the butterflies diminished almost instantly when Neptune focused on what was left in the box. It was... picture after picture after picture.... of them. The color, as well as the giddy smile, vanished from Neptune's face and she shut the box quickly.

"Just a box," Neptune got up quickly and kept it shut firmly. There had been another piece of paper inside, maybe an explanation? but she didn't want to get into it with Lexi OR Ivan. Not that she expected to fool either of them, but maybe they'd...let it go. "I should take this stuff up to my room. Maybe I'll meet you guys later." Yeahhhh. Neptune put the box under her arm and waved...bye.

William walked into the Student Garden with a bag of daisy seeds in his hand. He liked daisies because they were nice and sunny and seemed to be smiling all the time.

William put his dragonhide gloves on and then selected an area which seemed to get a lot of sunlight. He had heard that daisies needed a lot of sunshine, so he knew this was something important to consider. Then he began to dig a hole to plant the seeds in using the shovel he had brought with him. After the hole was about six inches deep he stopped digging and began to get ready to plant the seeds. Carefully, he sprinkled each seed into the hole, making sure there was enough distance between the seeds so that the daisies could grow without getting in each other's way or impairing their roots.

William then took some of the soil he had dug up and mixed it with some of the mooncalf dung he had brought with him. He carefully repacked the soil/dung mixture over the seeds and then watered it with his watering pail.

Hopefully, the daisies would be growing before too long. William looked forward to seeing them.

Gwen came back to the student garden, to check out the already planted Asphodel, and, of course, to place the second plant somewhere. She first got near the Asphodel and nodded, realizing it had a lot of sunlight. ‘Aguamenti’, she said watering the plant enough. This one seems fine…moving on.

Now…what other thing can I plant? Flitterbloom maybe? It looks identical to Devil's Snare, yet it lacks one thing. In 1995, a Ministry official was killed when Devil's Snare was mistaken for Flitterbloom, she read from a book. Um…maybe I’ll choose another one, Gwen decided.

Abyssinia Shrivelfig-this seems all right.She then rushed out and came back after a while with the seeds.

Now, let’s see what it needs… This plant needs generous amounts of water each day. All right, that I can do…
Then, after watering the plant, the girl informed herself a bit about it: The Abyssinia Shrivelfig must be pruned every two weeks. Through this action, the person is giving the plant more chances to grow and become powerful. Cutting the sticks and leaves out of the way, bring the plant closer to the air. Too much- I should have taken something easier…

The Shrivelfig flourishes a great deal with a mixture of dragon dung and mooncalf compost, she went on reading. It is also recommended that a mixture of the fig that grows on the leaf and part of the leaf shoulbe grinded and spread on the soil.

Stella was looking for the Dittany plant, for Potions homework. She tied her hair into a neat ponytail, even though she hated doing so and found it weird not to feel her hair on her neck. She walked down the path in the students garden and admired the plants she saw. Soon it will be spring and every flower will start to bloom and a sweet smell will fill the garden and the grounds. Stella loved spring.

Back to Dittany... She looked around, searching for the plant. She scanned the garden, looked for it in between bushes and flower beds, trying not to ruin the aesthetic look of the garden. She spotted a few of the flowers growing next to a tree. The Ravenclaw took out her wand, and neared the plant. She pulled three Dittany plants out of the ground and placed them into a jar with a label, which she then put back into her bag.

Next.

William decided he needed to find another sunny spot to plant the other seeds he had with him. They were sunflower seeds, and it was only fair that they should get as much sun as possible. Someone had told him that this flower needed to be planted facing towards the sun or it wouldn't grow as well.

Suddenly he realized he had the perfect spot. He knelt down and began to dig, digging about two feet down this time. The soil was soft and rich, which was very good, but he knew he needed to mix in plenty of mooncalf dung because the plant would need it for the fertilizer. He saturated the soil with moisture, and covered the seeds up after he had carefully placed them in the ground.

He wasn't sure how long it would take for the sunflowers to start to grow, but he planned to come back and check on them a lot as well as on the daisies he had planted out here earlier today.

After having been rather pleased with herself in finding already one item on her list for potions, the Slytherin continued her way down the paths, finding herself in the student garden. Such memories here. Her, with Josh, flying lovely insults to the ever annoying Ravenclaw duo...

It would've been much better if Professor Bentley hadn't interrupted like that, but Evelyn WAS starting to like the Professor a bit more. She did slap Vinny and that...was just awesome to witness.

Grinning, the Slytherin continued on her way, eying the plants and flowers. Obviously if you needed some flower, you'd go here. And what was on the list? Flowers. Well no, their roots, but it still pertained to flowers. Finding a particular lovely bunch of daisies nearby, Evelyn moved over to them and started to pull their roots. Or pulling the whole flower actually, with their roots. Would be AWFUL to just leave the pretty flower part behind. It could just be an added surprise to all the gruesome looking ingredients that were bound to end up in Lafay's storeroom.

On the other hand, now that she was here...she might as well pick up a few more flowers. For that divination homework. MEH! More work, but at least it was with something that was pretty.

Side-stepping into the student gardens not too far away, Simon went to check out what he could find. It was in amongst the plants....at dirt level that he spotted something or rather somethings that he had been keeping his eye out for but hadn't found in the various greenhouses.

Caterpillars.

The creatures obviously displaced from their leafy homes in the recent rains. Simon gingerly scooped them up into his hand to observe them up closer before using his free hand to retrieve another container. "There you go..." he mused almost to himself slowly sliding first one and then the other into the jar. After a few more minutes looking around he chanced upon a couple more on leaves and retrieved them too for his collection before securing them in his bag and leaving the way he came.

Kurumi felt a bit guilty that she hadn't come to check on the cherry tree she had planted during the first month of her first term. It had been one of the happier memories from her that year, and she had come here often to pick blossoms to pickle for tea and sweets as well as eating the occasional sweet cherry when then were ripe. It didn't take her long to find it and was pleased to see that it was already a good 20-feet tall now and was a brilliant pink color that gave that section of the garden a blushing glow.

After observing the tree for a bit, Kurumi looked down at the small box in her hand that contained a sapling of a slightly different variety of cherry tree that she had asked her father to owl her earlier in the week. This particular type of cherry tree was one that was considered a 'wand tree' and is actually the same type of wood used to make the wand her father carried. Perhaps that is what inspired her to want to plant the tree?

Smiling to herself, Kurumi gingerly took the sapling out of the box an cupped it in the palm of her hands before taking a look around for a spot to place the little guy. Finding one, Kurumi set the sapling down and grabbed a small shovel and began to dig a hole about three times as big and deeper than the root ball of her sapling. It took her a few tries before she finally had a hole big enough to fit the plant. Once she was satisfied, Kurumi went to the shed and grabbed a bucket to scoop up some dragon dung and then carried that back to the hole. She then mix in plenty of it into the hole and wrinkled her nose a bit at the smell.

Kurumi wanted to work with dragons, so she didn't mind working so much with dragon dung to be entirely honest...but that didn't make the smell any less potent. Once she had mixed the dragon dung with the soil, Kurumi set to setting the sapling into the hole and then began filling it. All that was left now was watering it.

Kurumi removed her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the soil. "Aguamenti!" A small but steady string of sparkling water poured from her wand and sprinkled the ground until it was damp - but not muddy. Kurumi had done a bit of research on this particular type of tree and knew that she was going to need to come back frequently to water so that it would grow nice and strong. Who knows, perhaps one day Hugo would be using wood from this very tree to make wands?

The student garden.

Destiny couldn't remember the last time she had been there, but she knew it had been far too long. Actually, it had been far too long since she had actually stepped foot outside. Except for the few classes that were held out there, of course.

But, despite needing to get out of the castle, she wasn't out there for that reason. Nope. She had a bunch of homework that was piling up, and she decided to do the hardest one first. Divination. Going outside, picking flowers, and then finding someone to give those flowers to; it was so difficult!

Dressed in her pajamas, because really, she didn't feel like getting dressed and she would only be outside for a minute, and her bag dragging on the ground behind her, Destiny shuffled her way to the first patch of flowers she came across. She had no idea what kind they were, but whatever they were, she was giving them to someone!

Throwing herself onto the ground, she pulled out her textbook ad started flipping through the pages.

Purple flower. It should have it's own category!

It was about that Caroline started this herbology assignment. She walked over the shed to get everything she needed to plant her Japanese maple tree. Shovel, compost, dragon dung (eww), mulch. Yep, she had everything she needed. She walked to the student garden with everything she got from the shed and the starter of the Japanese Maple. Finding the perfect place to plant the Japanese maple tree. It needed to be somewhere so the wind wouldn't blow the fragile branches and leaves around alot. She found a spot near the backside of one of the greenhouses, perfect the greenhouse should block some of the wind when it blew.

She stoupped down and started digging a shallow hole. After she dug the hole, she added some of the compost and dragon dung to the newly dug hole. Taking out her wand and pointing it to the wad of roots in her hand. "Aguamenti!" The starter needed to to be soaked before putting it into the hole. Placing the roots down in the shallow hole she covered the starter and spread some more compost and dragon dung over the top. Taking her wand again "Aguamenti!" to soak the ground around the plant.

All that was left was to add add the mulch. Scooping up some mulch she spread it around the tree. Standing up and looking down it the small tree. She smiled, she couldn't wait to see it grow. She headed back to the shed to put away the things that she had gotten and get whats she needed for the next thing that she was going to plant.

Evelyn had come down here earlier in the day, just to take a stroll and look around the student garden. Sure, she had come here with Josh before, but she wasn't paying attention to the flowers. Who would?

But now that she was here by herself, she could put as much attention on the flowers as she'd like, and hopefully look for a decent place to grow her plants. It seems she'd had bad luck in the past with her plants since they usually ended up dead by someone else's fault, but Professor Bentley seemed like she would look out for them when Evelyn wasn't there to protect them. If someone stepped on her flowers or destroyed them in any way, she WOULD be hunting them down.

With a two small bags (one full of two different kinds of seeds, and the other full of fertilizer), the Slytherin found an nice place in the garden and bent down to start planting them. There were definitely not enough roses in here in her opinion, so obviously, one type of flower she'd be planting were roses. Already having her gloves on, she was just opening the fertilizer bag when she heard someone else in the garden. Looking over, Evelyn paused what she was doing.

Meh. What was she doing here?

Frowning for a moment, the hazel eyed girl shook her head slightly and continued with shaking some of the fertilizer onto a bare patch of dirt and mixing it in. Pfft. If that textbook Destiny was holding somehow hit Evelyn's head...then she wasn't responsible for anything she may do to the girl.

Mangig had a letter! He had a letter! Now to find the person it belonged to.... He flew down rapidly and landed next to the girl and hopped around holding his leg out. SEEEEEE he had a letter!!!! Now you have to play with him to get it HAHAHA! He flew off again flying circles around the girls head.

Having finished making sure that her cherry tree sapling was comfortable, Kurumi returned to her bag where a few bulbs were waiting, wrapped up in brown parchment. Kurumi had also written her father for some of these flowers after she had discovered a small field of them outside of his flat. Most people who walked by, or had the unfortunate luck of bumping into them, were appalled by the honking noise that they made, but Kurumi found it rather adorable to be totally honest.

Walking over to one end of the garden, around where there were flowers of every color BUT yellow, Kurumi began digging holes again and placed the bulbs in them and then covered them up with dirt. Now, to go back and get more of that dragon dung.

Kurumi heard that many plants reacted differently to dragon dung, but she failed to remember what she had read about honking daffodils. Kurumi poured a healthy amount of the smelly stuff over the dunes, and padded it gently when she suddenly felt the dunes tremble under her touch. There were several soft pops and next thing she knew the flowers were already sticking out of the ground and HONKING like a Tokyo traffic jam.

Kurumi was a bit startled by the noise and tripped over the bucket sitting on the ground behind her. Her legs went up over her head and she fell to the ground - which was thankfully a soft grass.

Well, at least now there was something yellow in this patch of the garden!

Sierra walked to the student gardens and took a careful look around. Hmm. Not too many people in here. Good. She took a hesitant step forward and then edged around the side so the few people in the gardens stood less of a chance of seeing her. Why was she being so secretive? Simply put, Sierra Greingoth and growing plants went together about as well as pickles and ice cream did.

She found a secluded area of the gardens and decided to start her work there. She put on all her protective gear--gloves, goggles, the works. She always felt silly in her goggles. They made her see the world through the eyes of a fish. She gathered the supplies she'd need and then set to work. First, she dug a hole. She wasn't too sure how deep it was, but it looked deep enough, so she was satisfied.

She filled the bottom of her hole with fertilizer. Was she supposed to water now? Ehh. She aimed her wand into the hole and sprinkled some 'just in case' water inside. When that was done, she added in the seeds to grow daisies. Did she need more fertilizer? Merlin! Where was Hollingberry when you needed her?! She looked around, making sure none of her peers were watching, and then she packed in a bit more fertlizer. She added in a bit more dirt she'd dug up...and then some fertilizer...and then more dirt...and then more fertilizer.

Oh, right. Water. She sprinkled the area with water from her wand. It looked like she'd done something right, and if not, Bentley could just dig it up later and deal with it herself. As long as Sierra got the points, she didn't care. Hmm. All done? Yes, she thought so. She cleaned up her area and then put all the supplies away. Then she left the gardens. She'd plant something else another day.

Gah!

Why hadn't she thought about just conjuring the flowers she wanted? It would have been so much easier than trying to find what those purple flowers she was sitting in front of were, and she would have been able to stay inside the castle. In her bed. Where she wanted to be until school let out for the summer.

But, since she was already out there, and she had to admit the fresh air did feel nice, and the fact that Evelyn just walked in and she didn't want her to think she was leaving because of her, Destiny decided to stay. How many purple flowers could be listed in the text anyway?

Apparently a lot.

Sniffling a bit, she continued to search through her book, and just when she found the flower she was looking for, she heard the flapping of wings; wings that could only belong to an owl. As she looked up, her eyes widened with hope that the letter the owl was carrying was for her, but when it stopped in front of Evelyn, a frown overtook her face and she turned back to her book. She was being stupid for thinking she'd get a letter.

Sniffling even more now, Destiny reached over and pulled a few of the flowers out of the dirt, roots and all, before taking her notebook and quill out of her bag.



She was supposed to give apology flowers to someone!?

Sierra made her way back into the gardens, bound and determined to get her Herbology homework done today. Well, considering it was due in the morning, she really didn't have much of a choice, did she? Blahh. She usually never came to the student gardens. She was still working on her social skills, or lack thereof, and so places like the student gardens weren't frequented by her often.

Again, she walked along the edges of the garden looking for a place to grow the Chinese Chomping Cabbage. She finally decided on a secluded area not far from where she'd planted her daisies. She began by putting on all the protective gear--gloves, goggles, you name it, it was currently protecting her. Then she gathered gardening tools, fertilizer, and the seeds to plant the cabbage.

Hmm. Alright, so with everything all gathered up and ready to go, she began by digging a hole about a half inch deep. To be honest, she didn't know how deep the hole should be, but making it a half inch deep just made her seem like she knew what was going on. Then she sprinkled in the seeds to grow Chinese Chomping Cabbage. It was a good thing the plant hadn't already made it to the chomping stage. Or maybe the seeds chomped, too? She'd keep an eye on them just in case.

Then she tossed in the fertilizer and began packing it and some loose dirt she'd dug up into the hole. Water. She needed to water the seeds, or else they'd just...well, never really do anything at all. She aimed her wand toward the little area she'd been working in and gave it a nice shower with Aguamenti. "Finite!" she said, ending the spell. Okay, so this was it, hmm? Well, maybe they'd actually grow or something. They'd be lucky if they did with Sierra's gardening talents taking care of them. She cleaned up her area, put everything away, and then left the gardens.

Opening the bag of seeds she had, she grabbed a small amount, and sorted through them...only keeping the rose seeds while the others went into the bag. Creating a small hole in the dirt, she placed the four or five tiny seeds into the hole, before covering it up and patting it down slightly.

Hmm, now to water it, but as she was taking off her gloves, a small owl landed near her. Meh. Why? Eying the letter, she reached over to take it but...

SERIOUSLY!?

"Hold still..." Sit! PLAY DEAD!

Reaching out, with nice reflexes, she grabbed the owl and HELD IT DOWN! There, how do you like that, huh!? Maybe next time it'd sit still instead of having to be squished. Grabbing the letter, Evelyn let go of the annoyance and scowled at it, waving it off. "Go away." You don't get any treats or payment.



Taking her wand, still EYING the owl, she cast a silent 'aquamenti' on the little batch of rose seeds she just planted before glancing over to Destiny. She didn't see that did she?

Eh.

Who'd be sending her a letter anyway? She half expected it to be from him though...and she couldn't read it here if it was. Not with wandering eyes around, so for now, she'd just go on planting the second set of seeds that were in the bag. Tulips..