Pruning

Remember my hanging pots I planted last April?  They didn’t look very good for a couple of months.  But now?  They are beautiful!  My photography skills don’t really capture how full and cascading they are but I highly recommend those plastic pots with the holes.  If I can do it, anybody can!

Does your town have colorful flower pots hanging from the lamp posts?  Ours does and they do make a pretty street scene.  I can’t help but wonder how so many cities can afford them, though.  The initial costs to put them together and then the cost to water and maintain them?  Meanwhile teachers are being laid off, city workers are losing their jobs.  Hmmm…  Don’t get me started!

So lots of flowers mean lots of pruning.  Other than impatiens, most of the flowers in my yard will bloom much longer and more fully if I do - what is for me - the back-breaking work of dead-heading.

No, don’t picture me in a ruffled skirt and eyelet blouse with my thick hair tied back in a long ribbon, basket under my arm as I meander through the flower garden. 

No no.  I am crouched on my little garden stool in my fake plastic crocs, groaning and talking to myself.  I will pay the price for several days.  I do it anyway because I cannot bring myself to ask my husband to do it. 

He would prune for me without any complaint but I would be crouched over him, telling him “Try not to leave the stems so long” or “Can you clip that one?  No, the other one.”  I am hopeless.  It’s just easier, less embarrassing and less bossy for me to do it myself.

Pruning is painful.  But it always reaps rewards!  (I’m pretty sure there’s a verse for that!)

.