Are You My Mummy?

Day 325: Look what followed me home! As much as I would like to provide pollinators with their favourite foods, the tall sedum in the strawberry jar just outside my kitchen door was creating a scenario for a medical emergency with the number of honeybees it was attracting. I'm allergic, and more severely so to honeybees than any other species of stinger. I was courting disaster every time I went out to pick tomatoes, my backside to the bees only a foot or so distant. I knew it would only be a matter of time before I got stung if I didn't remove it, so on a cool morning a few days ago before the sun had risen, I cut the stalks back to the soil. Today, I dug out the roots and replaced them with this beautiful purple chrysanthemum.

Over the years, I've had mums winter over. It doesn't often happen that way, but on one notable occasion, I kept a dark red one for several years with no exceptional care. This year, I have a number of new plants which will require mulching, so I may just toss a handful of straw over Mummy if I have some left over.