Mums the word.

I realized recently that I need to take more pictures of actual people doing things, rather than just random objects. Some day our kids will ask, "what did you even look like in your twenties?" and the only proof I'll have will be my reflection while taking a picture of the bathroom...

Anyways, in light of that, here's another post with pictures of only things and not people. I'm starting the trying to do better part now, but hey, when you're husband's out of town it's hard to take a picture of yourself while planting flowers...

It's like a Hess House first or something, I planted flowers! After spending many dollars in college on flowers and killing them every time, I'm finally giving them another chance. So far in the in the garden budget we've limited ourselves to plants that make food. After you've planted and watered and taken care of a plant that makes food (bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, bluberries, apples, pecans...) it really seems kind of crazy to water and take care of a plant and then just stare at it.

But then I realized that the bed/planter things in front of the porch had been empty long enough, and I wasn't about to plant sweet potatoes in them...

Kyle had been pointing out mums all over town. He knew I wanted some, and like the sweet, wonderful husband that he is he was trying to encourage me to buy some (AKA spend) which apparently was hard for me. I just didn't want to spend $15 per mum that was way too big to fit in the little bed/planters anyway.

So I went to vote, you know, for the Presidential election and all kinds of other local and national things. I voted early, and it felt great. And when I was on my way home I spotted a local nursery.

Kyle had actually tried to get me to stop at this same nursery for flowers a few weekends ago, but it was right about the time I turned on the LSU-A&M game as we raced home from Kyle's team's soccer game. Right about when they said, "Touchdown A&M!" I knew we couldn't be stopping to buy flowers at a time like that...

So I stopped on my way home from voting and I asked about mums. The lady there confirmed that they had the huge mums, and then trailed off as she mentioned "the dollar mums if you want small ones."

DOLLAR MUMS!

They were perfect size, they looked healthy, and they were purple. Purple's a color I love, and I like it in every season. I could have maybe loved the bright yellow ones, but our house is already orange, and they only had purple or a faded rustic redish color in the small ones.

I could have bought six mums to fit the bed/planters, but they only had five and the fifth one looked like it may have been dead. So I got four and paided a whopping $4 (plus tax). I already had the beds, I had some spare mulch from planting the garden in the spring.

What do you think? I just love the color, and they'll fill out a little and grow a bit bigger over time.

Maybe it's not the most drastic 'makeover' but it gives a little something. Especially because we just had empty beds sitting there.

BEFORE

AFTER

Yep, not that dramatic at all in pictures. But other than the weeds in the yard, the flowers make the porch look a little more finished. A little more like people actually live here.

And turns out our little planter/beds are actually beds. They don't have a bottom, they go all the way down to the dirt, I guess. Which means these mums can actually live all year and bloom again and again. The lady at the nursery told me the mums will freeze if planted in a pot, but will survive the winter if planted in the ground. Just water them and pull off the dead flowers and it'll keep on blooming year after year.

Probably the best $4 I've ever spent. Let's just see if I can keep them alive...

Happy Friday. Happy November too. Also, don't forget to go vote! (you never know what kind of flowers you'll pass on the way there :)