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

Chilly Weather

Back Again!

I got to work in a funky mood this afternoon due to stress and whatnot of life. After a while I decided to clean petunia hangers outside and listen to Mark and Tony chitchat. Oh my god did I laugh... well on the inside, I'm not a big laugher, but I was smiling for sure. There they were, just two middle-aged men goofing around and laughing at one another... nothing but contagious let me tell you. Soon enough my cranky mood was alleviated.

Tonight there is an expected frost - the last of the season we hope. Since it was a slow night, customer-wise, I got to help the boys (aka my bosses and other coworkers) cover all the plants outside: roses, perennials, herbs, etc. The greenhouses are also closed up. This kind of thing, protecting for an impending frost, annoys one of my bosses a great deal because of the monotonous bringing things in/out and the covering/uncovering. But the couple of the hours of aggravation saves us thousands in plants. We can't have our whole business freezing!

I had to keep the stand open until our normal hours "in case a team comes," for ice-cream that is. I had one little boy dressed in a baseball uniform run in for a Moosetracks cone and that was it. But he was so cute! I'm always impressed when little kids are so polite when ordering ice-cream or whatever and I try to remember to tell their parents so. I imagine that they feel a bit of pride when someone recognizes their hard work. 'Please' and 'thank you' go a llloooonnnggg way.

So many of our plants are looking fabulous now. We're getting our cemetery logs out tomorrow, just in time for Memorial Day. I know a lot of my customers have been asking about them. The log boxes are nice, especially when Mrs decorates them. Oh the compliments I get on how nice everything looks. I wish I could share the credit, but really everything happens across the street in the "Employees Only" greenhouses. You could say I'm more in the maintenance department of the decorated pots - just keeping them clean and watered and presentable.

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Once I get settled in to my home after graduation, I'll unpack my camera and try to get some pictures up on this blog so I can actually share my work with you all. The sunsets are so pretty and I can't wait to get some pictures here.

Tomorrow's weather has a High of 74 and a Nightly Low of 47.

Remember to cover your plants tonight!!

See you again,
Chelsea