Gardening with Pat
Hoping for the Best
by Patricia S. Thompson
It has been an unusually warm late winter and everywhere I look plants are popping out of the ground. At nurseries people are buying annuals with complete abandon, apparently totally oblivious to the fact that the last frost date is some time around April 15, tax day. Of course, with a money back guarantee from the nurseries to replace plants if they die, you are only out your labor. On the positive side if all goes well, being impatient can get you a few weeks of un-seasonal color before the less adventurous gardeners like me get seasonal color.
My experience with gardening tells me that a late winter freeze usually follows an unseasonably warm late winter. There is a good chance that all my plants that are enthusiastically popping out of the ground will get killed back. My Japanese maples have been budding out for the last three weeks. Hostas are now breaking through the mulch and exposing their young tender shoots to the vagaries of Mother Nature.
Anticipating a late freeze, I start taking inventory to see if I have enough containers, trashcans, sheets, etc. to cover my plants. The answer is always "No". Every year I decide that next year I will buy some frost cloth, but the next year comes and I still don't have any frost cloth. I always fall back on crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
This year I have mixed feelings about my plants coming out too early-or at least one of them. For the last couple of weeks I have been lamenting the fact that the plants are breaking dormancy too early; now I am worried that one of my plants that hasn't come up is dead. On one of my walks around the garden, I discovered that 'Tortifrons' is coming up. I immediately checked on my favorite Hosta, 'Praying Hands'. It is either wiser than 'Tortifrons' or it's dead. There is no sign of life in that pot. It seems I am checking on 'Praying Hands' hourly and hoping for the best.
Gardening is like a good mystery. Nothing is revealed beforehand; you have to let the scenes unfold. In gardening you have to wait until Mother Nature shows her hand. In the meantime I will keep checking for signs of life in one Hosta and hoping that the rest don't freeze.
Note: 'Praying Hands' is alive and along with "Tortifrons' spent two nights in my garage while the other plants weathered two nights of freezing temperatures.
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