I am truly amazed at the way my flowers look considering that:
- It's the end of August and normally all plants have been fried to a crisp by now.
- They didn't cost me anything, and
- Other than water them a few times, I have done NOTHING to them except plant them.
With everything going on in the house this summer (bathroom reno), I have totally neglected the outside. I hadn't even planted any flowers by the end of June. My niece started working at a local greenhouse this year. She called me one Saturday morning and said that this was the last day the greenhouse was going to be open for the season and everything that was left was free.
Say "WHA?!" FREE?!?!
Now I knew that this late in the season the flowers would be pot bound and gangly. I also assumed there would only be a few flowers left but I headed over right away. I was pleasantly surprised to see a large amount of flowers and a fair selection at that. As I expected, they were rather sad looking.
However, for free, I was willing to give them a second chance. I brought them home, rolled up my sleeves and went to work. I mixed up some topsoil with manure from the barn (well, actually, DH did that part for me), pinched all the beautiful blossoms off, and planted them. I watered them good and mulched them; then forgot about them (almost). My 6 year old would periodically water them for me and here they are 2 months later. They survived some of the hottest weather in Ohio's history.
Lest you get the idea things are pretty around here, I will let you in on a secret.
I had to practice selective photography to edit out weeds, kids bicycles, and long grass.
(Well, you can still see that the grass needs mowed but hey, I can only do some much.)
Have a great weekend!
From the Farmhouse
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