Mother’s Day and Landscaping Quick Hints
Mother’s Day is right around the corner! Check out our “Mother’s Day Poll” results and some springtime suggestions below!
Mother’s Day Poll Results
We conducted an unofficial poll of some local Moms, and thought these were some good guidelines and food for thought when you’re planning to recognize the Mothers in your life. We asked local Mothers to disclose their fondest memories of Mother’s Days past, and we’ve created this idea list based off of our findings.
Breakfast in Bed
Many of the Moms polled recalled a day when breakfast in bed was served by their husband and children on Mother’s Day morning. Having the kids take part in the morning celebration made it that much more memorable. And it doesn’t need to be an elaborate 5-star breakfast. As a matter of fact, the women that had the fondest, clearest memories were occasions when things ‘fell apart’ – burned toast, dogs toppled the breakfast, etc. Make a simple breakfast, add a flower to the tray, and voila!
Hand Made
In addition to Breakfast in Bed, anything hand-made, drawn, or written was high on the memory list. And not just from the kids. A love letter written from the heart made one Mom cry just relaying the story to us. She had the letter laminated, and is her favorite memory of all the Mother’s Days gone by. (seeing a trend here guys?)
Plan it
Most Mothers we spoke with were overwhelmed with just a simple daily plan on Mother’s Day. A good idea might be to give her a daily agenda. For example: 10am: Breakfast / 11am: Mom shower, while the rest of us clean the house. / Noon: Mom walk or relax time / 1pm: Family planting of new tree. (Mom, you relax and watch us dig!) / 3pm: Dinner at Grandparents. Giving Mom a day to not have to think about anything seemed to be very very popular amongst the Mothers polled.
Honey Do List
“When you tell a man to do something, he’ll do it. You don’t need to remind him every 6 months.” Gentlemen, we are forgetful creatures sometimes, huh? Maybe this Mother’s Day week and/or weekend is a good opportunity for us to catch up with some overdue tasks. Mother’s Day doesn’t necessarily mean showering her with gifts from stores. A day of labor (pun intended) goes a long way toward showing how much we appreciate them.
Tradition
Finally, whether it was breakfast in bed, or the planting of a new tree, or drawings from the children – it seems what Moms loved most was the creating and following of a tradition. The simplest of loving gestures – just for her – became more and more memorable with each year.
Important Tips for Mother’s Day – a few parting (but important) thoughts…
- Make sure you recognize ALL of the Mother’s in your life. That’s right – especially your Mother-in-law. Big points are scored at home when you’re nice to the ‘other’ Mom.
- Plan ahead: Mothers are incredibly insightful (way more than us guys) – they know when it’s thrown together last minute, and they certainly deserve our best. Let’s make a plan, and simple is fine!
- Flowers: Lastly, if you are sending flowers to a Mom that’s out of the area, we highly recommend you do NOT use a national service. Many national conglomerates masquerade online as a local shop, even purchasing local phone number lines. They have ‘special deals’ that seem great, but then they stranglehold a small local flower shop to deliver a ‘less than worthy’ arrangement. And our Moms would never complain about flowers being sent – so you’ll never know that the ‘special deal’ you sent her were month-old flowers that died in a day. Directly contact flower shops that deliver to her, and inquire about the age of the flowers. Moms deserve the best!
In short, let’s properly recognize the Mothers (and all women) in our lives gentlemen. They certainly deserve our praise, attention, planning and time!
Quick Hits For Springtime Lawns and Landscaping
- Seed Time: It’s not too late to seed your lawn. In this region, it’s a perfect time to do a quick thatch of your lawn and seed away! We continue to recommend Scott’s lawn seed – they are highly consistent year after year.
- Mulch Time – Another good idea for this week would be to clean up any left over leaves/debris from the main roots of rose bushes, shrubs and perennials; add 3″ of mulch without packing it down to hold in some moisture and nutrients.
- Planting time: It looks like the cold weather is coming to an end. If it is going to be below 38 degrees at night, then you can bring your tender perennials in or cover them. Perennials should all survive our typical overnight temperatures at this point.
- When choosing where to buy your plants/flowers/etc. – we highly recommend you find out where they were grown and cared for. Plants and flowers grown outside of this region and shipped in are not acclimated to the soil or climate, and tend to be more prone to dying/fading/withering much quicker.
- Trees/shrubs – If you’re considering a new tree or shrub this spring, we recommend purchasing somewhere that has a 6 month guarantee. If they’re not confident in the health of their products, neither should you be.
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