True or false?

Greetings!  How was your 4th?  Pretty noisy around here for days.  The picnic table's 1 1/2" pipe base and brackets were somehow bent.  Yep.  Putting it back together did not go smoothly.  I called my sister and asked how he was making out after about an hour, and she was sitting in her bedroom and not even watching.  I didn't know until hours later when he got home that there were major problems, but it's done.  She looked out the window when he was leaving and said it looks new.  Well of course it does!  He used the grinder on the rusted metal, filled the holes, sanded, painted it black, got all new wood for the top and benches.  Sometimes ..... well, never mind.

 

My Bubblegum petunias are doing well, some of the others are lagging behind, and when searching for growing tips I came across a bit of info that was unknown to me.  Seed pods.  After the tunia flowers and wilts, the bract that held it will develop seeds.  When the plant is putting out seeds, it believes it is dying and stops producing an abundance of flowers.  Makes sense I guess.  So I checked.  There were tons of them that the article said should be cut off.  They are green to brown and very hard, shaped like a Hershey's Kiss. 

Here's the difference.  You can also tell by feeling because the bud is very soft and the pod very hard.  So all along the stems where flowers had faded, there were pods, which I removed, and we'll see if it makes a difference. I didn't find the large ones on Bubblegum or the Supertunias, but all of the Wave petunias were loaded, some already brown and broke open. 

The article said this is mainly why the  Calibrachoa or Million Bells fail and die out in the center.  That and not enough cutting back.  Maybe the pods are too small to see on other varieties, maybe the guy didn't know what he was talking about and it doesn't make a difference in performance.  Does anyone know - true or false?

 

 

 

 

We finally have a few hot days coming which started today, and after Mark busted his butt working out in the sun, we cooled off with one of our favorite summer drinks, chocolate Coke.  Ice cold Coke, add a heaping measuring spoon (Tablespoon or more!) of Hersheys, whisk, add ice, oh baby.

 

He made my hornbooks for the two samplers and we've been to Lowe's, Home Depot, the local lumber shop, and NO one has a scroll saw.  Sears has one, their brand, and I guess it's our only option.  I do not want to order online sight unseen.  And Pat Catan's does not have the larger 6" round/tall box.  No more.  They only sell it in sets of seven now from 3" to 9".  I don't need them all and I will not order from web sources since quality is bad and I need to check each one.  Plus the price is almost double and I would have to pass that on.  Hobby Lobby had one, they break the sets open and sell individually so you get one at a time.  One more source about 45 minutes from here to check.

 

That's it folks.  I'm ready for another chocolate Coke.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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