Beautification

Okay, so I know I still need to work on the format... one thing at a time!

On this particular day I was cleaning petunia hangers. Not a terribly exciting task.. in fact it is often sticky. Literally. Have you ever plucked a petunia? I suggest that you do so in order to gain a tactile appreciation of this blog entry.

The first picture shows the plant as a whole. Pretty nice looking except for those dead flowers. The second picture shows what a dead-head looks like on a petunia: kinda droopy and expired-like. Once plucked from the stem (you can just remove the flower itself but then the plant is going to still take time to kill the part of the stem when it really wants to be growing another flower) I toss all of them, in addition to any dried out stems, or yellow leaves in to the bucket (see picture 3). And when I have gone through the entire plant it turns out looking good as new. Voila! Picture 4, a cleaned petunia hanger.

A helpful hint if you must also clean your petunia hanging basket - shake it! I twirl the basket around a few times and shake off any of the dead heads that the plant has already removed for me. That way I am able to concentrate on taking off the heads that are still connected. Easy peasy!

Speaking of peas... the other night we had a chance of frost (I know, right!? What on Earth? But that is New England for you.). My boss decided to take a risk and not cover up the plants that would be susceptible to death if exposed to frost. Perennials are usually fine but veggie plants, double impatiens, etc are not so hardy. At home I decided not to risk it all the way. I covered my brother's pumpkin plants with pillow cases and my dad's peas with newspaper. Pea plants are hard to come by so my father started them from seed and I knew he'd be upset were they all to die.
Luckily, the frost passed us. Phew!

Seeing as 1) I am behind on posts and 2) not yet able to format my pictures properly, I will be adding another post right after this one! How exciting! Even more so, it will be all pictures so just put your brain on hold and look at some more pictures!

Today's weather: high of 72* and rainy - low of 48*. Tomorrow's forecast will be a cool high of 62* with some clouds and a low of 48*.

Have a great day!
-Chelsea