Tuesday I had to get a few things from our local Lowes. I went through the garden center. These caught my eye, and whose eye would they not catch?

They’re mums, right? These are very commonly planted around businesses that maintain landscaping. At the office building where I used to work, summer flowers were dug out in late summer or early fall and replaced with cold-weather plants, usually including a lot of mums. Although some mums (apparently) can survive as perennials, around here they are treated as annuals. They’re pretty, but I have problems with planting something that I know won’t live beyond a few months.