We once had beautiful dwarf blue spruce bushes in front of our porch. I loved them. They were evergreen and even soft to the touch.
Unfortunately we made the horrifying discovery one day that we were not the only ones who loved the blue spruce bushes. Snakes (a whole family of them with aunts, uncles and cousins) had taken up residence in them.
Having grown up in low country South Carolina with rattlesnakes, water moccasins and other assorted reptiles, my motto has always been “Get rid of it first and figure out later if it is harmless.”
So I did what I grew up doing. Scream for help and beg the helper to make them go away!
Jay, being more the outdoor type, cheerfully obliged and dispatched the snakes. We really did not discuss their destination, but he promised me they would never return.
I felt my heart rate settling a bit, until I thought, “I’ll bet their relatives are already on the way to avenge them.” I told Jay the blue spruce would have to go.
He made several attempts at reason, but I wasn’t having it. He sighed deeply, realizing he could wake up to his crazed wife chopping down shrubbery with an ax in the middle of the night.
The next morning, Jay removed each blue spruce bush by towing it out with a device attached to the van. And you better believe I was watching for flying snakes.
Then came the decision of what to put in the spot that now looked like a section of desert. I just knew that whatever we got would have to have lots of visible space. I wanted no unwelcome surprises!😱
We decided to get pots of flowers. The choices of pots were endless. I found a nice blue UK pot. I must admit I was attracted to it for its color more than fandom for our local university.
I told Jay it might be nice to get one and join our neighbors who had UK mailboxes to show their support for the Big Blue Nation.
Before I knew it, Jay was checking out with six UK pots! When I expressed reservations, he looked puzzled and said, “I thought you liked the UK pots.”
While I clarified “pot” instead of “pots,” he continued checking out. True to the way Jay does life, he believes in always taking things up a notch. I think our neighbors thought we had gone all the way from fan to fanatic!
In the past few years, we have had various things in those pots, but thankfully no snakes.
We had some exotic lilies one year that were advertised as “fragrant.” That was an understatement. When we turned on to our street, it smelled like the whole area had been bombed with air freshener.
And those lilies were hearty. After the first frost when everything else had died off, they were still giving forth with their aroma. We were grateful when the first snow finally convinced them to go to sleep.
We have supported various children’s school groups selling mums every fall. A couple of years ago, I read the tip of not throwing away dead mums, but using them as a base for Christmas decorations. It worked wonderfully!
So today was the day for spring planting of the pots. My resident gardener spent the afternoon introducing the new season.
I am thankful he is willing to bring me flowers in this way. His patient work is more romantic to me than any flowers he could get from a florist shop.
And the best part is, we did not see any snakes. I still look just in case!
