Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Pansy killing day!

Yesterday was the much-awaited day--pansy killing day! Wait, you might ask--wasn't I just recently excited for pansy planting day? Yes, of course, but I've moved on. Planting pansies--or better yet, watching last fall's pansies come up in the spring--is a much-anticipated event in late winter that assures us all that spring is coming. Those little pansies give us an excuse to get our hands in the dirt, or, shame on me, clean out the flower pots from last fall that might have been neglected when football season came around. In any case, I look forward to planting pansies every year.

But as the weather starts to warm . . . wait, that hasn't happened yet . . . um, as June rolls around, the pansies usually start to outgrow their little pots and start shooting toward the sky. They start looking lanky and weed-like and much less desirable than all the warm-weather flowers that have since appeared in the stores and nurseries. This year, my pansies took longer than usual to make the transition from cute little pansy to awkward teenager pansy. In fact, they looked great up until about a week ago (some would debate this point, but more about that later). As I walked past the aisles of beautiful flowers at Edwards a couple weekends ago with Mom, I think I was actually willing my pansies to die faster. This past weekend I decided it was time. Either that or I was so sick of the rain that I decided I had to do some planting to stay sane. So the Boyfriend and I headed to Edwards on a dreary, gray, this-is-why-people-hate-Sundays type of day and wandered around the humid, warm, colorful greenhouses. We both picked out some plants--some old standards and some new experiments. Last night, after taking sadistic pleasure in yanking out those lanky pansies, I got the new blooms planted in our "Downtown" planter. (The Boyfriend says it looks like one of the giant planters they have downtown. Aren't we fancy?! Yeah, it was a gift.)

So I have a few side notes/confessions that seem only right to put forth. First, some members of our household have expressed amusement at pulling out living plants just to spend money on new plants. Since the dogs can't talk, I'll let you figure out who this nonconformist is for yourself. Got it? Ok. Well I would just like to state for the record that he also performed this coming-of-summer ritual each year at the townhouse. Enough said. Second, I still have multiple pots full of pansies. Some just look too good to pull out, but I think the biggest reason I didn't pull them out at the same time is because I love buying flowers. We only have so many pots, which means each year I don't get to buy flowers all that often. I'm spacing it out. I'm trying to find as many excuses to go buy flowers as possible. If I did it all in one day, what fun would that be? I see it like this . . . it is like going to the ice cream shop (and who can't relate to the excitement and happiness that brings?). Your choice is to either buy that monster 25-scoop ice cream sundae you see on a Food Network eating challenge show and go once a year, or you can visit any leisurely afternoon you'd like on multiple occasions and savor one or two sweet, creamy, colorful scoops. Yeah, I'll take that.


1 comment:

  1. I appreciate your desire to buy plants all season long. I fonly more people followed your direction Erica!

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