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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Mummification

Oh nooooooo! Look at this supermarket display. What's next - scarecrows and pumpkins?! Please. It's barely August and the mums are back. These are a popular, if boring, plant for fall. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, mums are the third best-selling cut flower, after roses and carnations, and third in potted-plant sales, after poinsettias and orchids. Guess I'm missing something. I like roses, carnations, poinsettias and orchids, and I love the truly hardy crysanthemums, which won't be blooming for another month but are always a treat in late summer and early fall. These short-lived imposters are another story. They're the fast food of the Mum World, produced, in effect, by assembly line without variation (except for a limited array of so-called "fall colors") and about as interesting as that sounds. And you know the mums' return means the end of summer. Time to go back to school, time to put the garden away, time to head inside and hibernate.  It's too soon for that! The tomatoes have just begun to ripen. My entire neighborhood, blessedly, is at the Shore. The windows can stay open. The curtains are blowing in the warm breeze. It's easy to get into restaurants. Traffic's light. In other words, IT'S STILL SUMMERTIME! 
Posted by virginia smith @ 3:40 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:20 PM, 08/07/2009
    Agreed, summer is no where near over! It frustrates me when I see these way-to-early-displays at the markets. Oh well, better than nothing growing in those 'typical suburban gardens'...lol.
    — pootershow
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:58 AM, 08/14/2009
    Mums would really like these flowers. Crysanthemums and carnations are my favorite flower for this summer. ___ PDF Book (HTML deleted)
    — Zendine


2 comments
About Virginia A. Smith
Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
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