Earlier this summer I planted some zinnias in our backyard.
And then we went to the beach with Doc's parents and the kids. They got a little thirsty while we were gone and started turning a little crisp. I tried to drown them with water to bring them back to life. That didn't work. I tried to pull off all the dead flower heads to see if new blooms would come. That didn't work either.
Then we went to the beach again with our friends. Needless to say, they were looking a little very rough when we got home. All of my research online said that zinnias are one of the easiest flowers to grow. But why wouldn't mine grow? I spoke with my gardening friend and told her my problem. She suggested maybe I hadn't planted them in the right place, so I took her advice and relocated them to our front yard.
Here's how they looked after about a week or so in the front yard.
Pretty dead crisp looking, huh?
Well, folks, take a look at 'em now!
You can just call me the Flower Whisperer from the way I brought these back to life!
Ok, that's not true at all.
Hello. My name is Lucy and I am a Flower-Bed Cheater.
The truth is I gave up hope on my first batch of zinnias, yanked 'em up and threw 'em away. I asked Doc to pick me up a fresh set on his way home from work Friday, and being the awesome husband he is (or maybe having no faith in my flowering skills), he brought home five big, beautiful, mature zinnia plants. No more starter plants for me, I'm playing with the big boys now.
I got out early yesterday (Saturday) morning to plant them, hoping none of my neighbors would be up yet to notice the ol' flower switcheroo. Sure enough, no one was out so the coast was clear.
As I pulled the new plants out of their plastic pots, I started thinking to myself that maybe I could split these giant plants up. What's better than five beautiful zinnia plants? FIFTEEN beautiful zinnia plants. Yep, that's right. I split them all into thirds. I'm sure I'll find out in a few days whether that was a smart idea or not.
But right now it's totally worth it. My flower bed looks awesome! It's full of brightly colored zinnias that are almost as tall as the new shrubs we planted. I couldn't be happier.
How could seeing flowers like that not instantly brighten your day? Let's just keep our fingers crossed that this batch decides to hang around for a while.
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In other yard work news, my parents got a brand new flower bed yesterday.
It started with this guy hauling in a bunch of dirt.
The dirt got shaped up and new plants were arranged.
My parents spent the rest of the afternoon planting new hostas and splitting old plants to go in the new bed. They also got to spread the rest of the mulch on the new bed. It was all a lot of work.
Oh, and in between doing all that, my mom also spray painted her patio furniture.
We're one day down in our three-day weekend and it has already been very long, busy, and exhausting. But it's also been productive and that's exactly what we needed it to be.
Doc and I have cut all the wood for the two patio set orders we've received. I finished up sewing a batch of table runners last night - only one batch left to go. Invitations for an upcoming shower have been addressed, sealed, and are ready to be mailed. And we even managed to crank out three loads of laundry. Now if I can only muster up enough energy for today to be just as productive.
Happy Fourth of July, everyone!