Today was a pretty good day, as days go where you don’t have to go to work and you can pretty much just hang out. Oh the luxuries that early retirement affords.
I spent some of the afternoon pluckin’ and shuckin’, no was corn involved (shuckin’) but I did get in my share of pluckin’. We have a few gardens that needed tending and I still have numerous plants and flowers in pots and all needed their share of attention. Watering and weeding, the 2 w’s were the order of the day.
Prior to any of this though I had to make a trip to a post office on the American side of the border to pick up a package we ordered a week or more ago. We often get things sent there as it’s much cheaper than getting sent to Canada from the US. More often than not the items come with free shipping and we pay no duty or taxes when crossing the border, probably due as much to good luck as good looks. Today I picked up some solar screening from the post office and filled my tank with cheaper gas. Kinda like a double header.
The sun was in a great position on my drive back and I got some photos of one of the hillsides in part sun and part shadow. I think it will look neat, with some editing (yet to be done). Time will tell.
It was only after I got home that the pluckin’ began. I had a few Coleus to transplant, one for my Mom (one of the children under the stairs) and the other two for me. Not sure what I’m going to do with so many Coleus in the house in a couple month as they aren’t perennials and won’t last the winter outside. We get too much snow and it’s far too cold for them to survive. They do make beautiful deck plants however and I’ll do what I have to to keep them going, which may include wintering with the geraniums and other annuals we keep going year round.
I also had to tune up my roses as they are getting rather ratty looking. Whether that’s from lack of water, some other rose affliction, or just the way it is. I don’t really know the cause but I’m banking on the lack of water at this point. We’ve been on the road so much and Mom was looking after all the yard plants that I can’t be sure they got adequate watering while we were gone. I’m sure she watered, just how much is the question.
All in all the day went well. I never did make it to installing my deck handrails nor to any of the other tasks on my list, but that’s the price I pay. C’est la vie. Tomorrow is another day.
Comments
I’ve grown many coleus in my home in the past. I won’t say I was always successful, but I think that a lot of time it had to do with the type of heat the house I was renting had. Maybe it was also related to what side of the house the windows offered the best lighting. I’ve never used the bedrooms to display my plants.
I had a plant last fall that I didn’t want to let die in the cold outdoors so I brought that into the house. It actually lasted several months before tiring out. I think it was called a spoon flower and it was the prettiest purple. I may have taken a picture of it, but I’ve misplaced my camera so will have to wait on that one.
Thanks for the comments. I’ve brought mine in already and in fact have given a couple away. They are healthy (so far) and got too big for me to keep all.
I’m really digging the whole plant thing and now with resuming my photography fanaticism I see more plant pictures in my future too.
Take care,
Dwayne
When they get too big for you to manage, you can also clip them back by pinching stems off or using pruners or scissors. It takes a bit for them to get back where they were and it helps the plan bush out. The same is true for clipping any flowers that show up.
The leaf colors are the prettiest part of the plant, that makes it easy to clip the flowers.
I may try that but I don’t know if its the right season now, or if it matters.
It was interesting when one of them did flower, I didn’t know they had flowers.