Thursday, August 29, 2013

Mums the word

After the August 12th rain, the Bush Champion cukes vines pretty much died.  I've never seen rust spread so fast on such healthy vines before.

I pulled them out after a couple of days (hey, I was hoping for a spontaneous remission, but, alas, no).

Last year I overdid it on new mum purchases.  I must have bought 25 mums.  Every color imaginable.  I was in mum heaven.

For a while.

Then the deer discovered them and overnight whole plants would be stripped of blossoms.  I couldn't net that many plants, so lost most of the blooms.


Then 75% of them did not return this year.  Only 6 (2 red, 2 rust, 1 lavender, 1 white) are budding out right now.  They are securely netted.

I wasn't going to buy ANY plants this year, let alone mums.  However.  Here were those 3 large planter pots in front of the deck where the cukes had been.  Empty.  Barren.

*sigh*   So I succumbed and bought 3 mums to fill them with color.

Don't they look nice?

And they are gonna STAY that way, trust me, because right after taking this pic I put back up the netting that had been protecting the cukes from deer.  Ah well....

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6 comments:

  1. I really like your colors of mums. We won't see them bloom here for a few more weeks. Too dry for most of them so they will be small this year. You had rain. Good deal!

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    1. Not really, Larry. I bought those 3 mums you are seeing in the pic 3 days ago from a nursery where they were already in bloom (they are grown under hoop houses so they bloom sooner than normal). Mine out in the yard are weeks away from blooming. We had some rain but boy we could sure use another couple soakers. Hopefully some of this 'storm' forecasts for the next couple of days comes true. Enjoy your mums!

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  2. Great looking mums. I went to several "big box" stores yesterday and the selection was lousy. You found some nice ones.

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    1. Yeah, mine BBs were equally uninspired so went to a local nursery and paid for 3 nice ones. Since I haven't spent ANY coin for plants this year, I treated myself to 3 large mums. They sure do brighten up that planter box.

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  3. Lovely! Evil deer. I grew up in Illinois, and deer had hearty appetites.

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    1. Ah if only I could find a way to invite them to dinner.... as the main course. I think we should all be eating more venison. LOL

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