Full Solarium

My solarium is packed full of all the flowerpots from the front step, the back step, and in front of the garage. Geraniums and petunias are blooming as is one agapanthus. I even have cherry tomatoes growing in one pot. Not sure how those got there.

Some annuals, such as coleus, are leggy and woody, and i don't expect them to last long. I take cuttings in order to root them.

As much as i like to keep old plants, some plants have a short lifespan. In order not to lose them completely, i keep taking cuttings.

Death is certain. The time of death is uncertain.

18-Year-Old Geraniums

My neighbor had the same geraniums on her window sill, in the same pots, for 18 years! She did this by giving her geranium plants a haircut every fall, cutting them all the way down to ground level.

Geraniums are prone to get leggy and woody. Cutting them back, way back, keeps fresh green growth coming.

We can clutter our lives up with too much stuff. Sometimes, it's good to have a thorough house-cleaning.

Clean out a drawer today. Or one shelf. Don't wait to find the perfect person to give it to. Send it along to your favorite thrift store. (Mine is the hospice shop.) Someone you don't even know will love your treasure.

Freshen up your life with the random act of kindness of giving your stuff away.Your geraniums love it, and you will too.

Leggy Pansies

Those pansies that looked so sweet in mid-April are hanging their heads and dragging their tongues now. They are leggy and floppy. I've moved them from a planter on the front step, where they've greeted me for the past 10 weeks. Now they're hiding in a shady spot where they can loll around on the ground to their heart's content. And my heart will be more content if i'm not secretly complaining about how gangly they are.

Every good thing is accompanied by trouble. Have you noticed? Those good children of the flower world--pansies--are now gangly, floppy teenagers who have outgrown their home. It's time to turn them loose in the world of the flowerbeds.

I know where this is going to lead. They're just going to go to seed.

Oh, their pansy faces are as cute as ever, but, really, they're lost in the crowd of colorful summer annuals. Every good thing comes to an end.