Evergreen

Most of you know me for my social media efforts, but those of you who know me well know that I have several things that I am passionate about, and a lot of them are green. One of those things is plants.  I am an Advanced Master Gardener, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the fabulous weeds in my backyard. This was a crazy summer for many people, as it was for me.

I love that we live where there are trees that change color, but I also love evergreens! There is something magical to look out amongst the snow-covered blankets, and see the little hints of green. This is a how-to post on one of my favorite evergreen projects.

Some people buy small potted evergreens to place by their front door.  Some people hang wreaths of greenery on their front door. This is what I do to keep those evergreens close all winter long.

I trimmed back the mums that were in these pots, and watered them thoroughly.

(Any pot will do, but make sure that if it is not under a protected area, that it has room to expand or it will crack when it freezes.)

Next I gathered of a variety of evergreens. You can use various types of pines, hollies, magnolias, ivies, or anything that stays green all year long. (If you are using evergreens that are not from your own yard, be sure to ask permission first.)

I trimmed the bottom few branches from the cuttings and stuck them into the pots. If the bottom branches were large enough, I used them to fill in as well, being sure to get the clipped parts completely in the soil.

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Next, I added some store-bought glittery branches to add color and pizzazz.

These greens will remain green throughout the bulk of the winter even though they have been cut. The moisture from the soil will keep them fresh.

If you decide to make one of these for yourself, I would love to see your pictures!

Should I stay or go? Where are you going?

HA! The latest article in the Hootsuite blog is called Migration Season. So it was no surprise, we knew it was coming. Well Hoostuite thought we knew.  It seems that the new PRO announcement was not heard by some. I woke up to be given a deadline, keep the free plan or pay $6 a month for the PRO plan that won’t give me some of the features that I personally use often within the Hootsuite platform.  If I want all the features I use, I have to get the enterprise plan at $1500 a month. Ok, that’s for 30 people, but I only need it for 2, so no options for me. I guess I can do what the article suggests, I can migrate to another platform.

On a side note, that post said “Since announcing the premium plans back in August of 2010, we’ve listened closely to your feedback and suggestions to ensure that we could tailor the plans to meet your different requirements and to ensure that the key features are as affordable and available as possible.”

Looking at their twitter accounts, it doesn’t feel like they are listening. They are responding, but not LISTENING. When someone asks a question they answer it, but it feels very upsellish. “We appreciate your feedback. We’ve made it as affordable as possible for advanced functionality”.

I realize that the team at Hootsuite has done an amazing job on a limited budget. I don’t mind if they sell some ad space and feed it to me. I’m not really happy as you can tell, but I have not totally given up on Hootsuite.

Tell me what you think, and if you’re migrating away, please share where you’re going so we can all visit and see if it is somewhere we’d like to stay.