Pansies

Good Morning!  We had a marvelous long weekend, I hope you did too.  Almost everyone is feeling better and those who are not are almost there!  Thank goodness.

We had beautiful weather this weekend, we actually spent most of the days outside.  Trip was home and I was happy!  It always make for a good day when daddy is home. . .a little help always lifts a stay-at-home mom's spirits!

Do you see these pansies?  Aren't they beautiful?

Let me tell you a little something about myself.  I grew up outside. . . no really!  When my brother and I were little my mom would send us outside all the time.  In fact {gasp} most of the time she and my dad were not out there with us, oh back in the day.  My brother and I would spend hours upon hours outside. 
One thing I remember about my many days outside is the beautiful yard my parents had when we were in Florida.  I remember my dad's garden and blueberry bushes.  I remember the beautiful trees we tried to climb and the big healthy bushes we made club houses in.  I know that my parents spent lots of time working in the yard, but until now I did not realize what a time consuming thing having a beautiful yard is.

Since we have moved to this house we have not been able to do things in the yard that we would like to do.  But one thing I have been able to keep up with (most of the time) is our deck off the kitchen.  I can easily put some seasonal flowers in the pots and enjoy looking at them while I eat my breakfast.

My pansies have gone nuts!  I have always heard that you should pull off the spent blooms. . .well what do you know!  Its true! 
Friday I went through and pulled off all the blooms that were dead. . .there were a lot. . .and all these beautiful pansies are what I woke up to this morning.  It is amazing how beautiful they are. 

By the way, I need to let you know that pansies are expensive.  Any seasonal plant in general is expensive, but I have discovered the sale rack at Lowe's and Walmart is a great place to get these seasonal plants for a great price.  These pansies had a few yellow leaves on them which got them put in the sale rack and I quickly snatched up 8 pots for $2 a piece instead of $8 a piece.  Before I planted them I pulled off the yellow leaves a ta-da beautiful pansies.  Easy.

A little hard work and not having a baby on your hip thanks to daddy being home makes such a wonderful difference!  Have you dead headed your pansies lately?