A Cold Spring

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John had me choose a few plants for Mother’s Day, neither of us dreaming we’d have yet another cold spell. I brought three pots inside, and each night he’d cover up one outside. There was one advantage of having an impatiens on the kitchen counter. I greatly enjoyed the bright red flowers close up. They were as cheerful as could be and seemed to be saying thank you for not having to shiver outside.

Two days in a row we saw neighbor Warren’s garden swathed in white. John remembered I called neighbor Dawn’s covered plant a Mother’s Day ghost.

He asked, “Do you see lots of ghosts here?”

“No,” I replied. “This is tent city.”

A garden bed with sheets but no blankets or pillows

Warren always has an impressive scarecrow, and every year I wave at it a few times. This year he put up the scarecrow after we walked in the morning. As we drove past later, I lifted my hand as high as the window before I realized it was not a human. I must ask him if the scary man has a name. I’m sure we would be on a first-name basis.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

35 thoughts on “A Cold Spring”

  2. How wonderful it is with good neighbours, it makes all the difference.
    I have never seen any covering like this before. How imaginative.
    The scarecrow is quite something … but why? It is to early for berries
    and any fruit?
    Never mind, he is fun and you had fun. 😊.

    Miriam

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  3. Procrastination may be a pain most of the time, but sometimes it can be useful. Like this year, when I still haven’t planted the “tender” annual stuff. Usually I’d have it in by now, but this year I’ve been late planting stuff. Good thing.

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  6. We have had a cold spring too. We had a frost on May 9. That is really late for us! I lost some annuals and some basil plants. I just replanted today.

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  8. He does look a bit scary! We only transplanted half the tomatoes, so will be replacing all of them with the ones we kept back this week. I’m so glad we were able to grow our own this year….had we spent currency on 38 plants to have them freeze would have been gut wrenching!

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    1. My dad used to grow too many tomatoes for us to eat. Thankfully, he didn’t bemoan lost plants or frosts to me. I’m learning from others like you and from experience. I tried tomatoes once here in NC. I wasn’t tempted to try again. Good luck with yours.

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  13. I missed this post but saw yesterday’s … hmm. I need new glasses, though I swore I would not do the eye doctor this year due to COVID-19. I could not remember where I left off.
    I was just commenting to a fellow blogger that I remember I always got my annuals for pots, baskets and around the yard in the soil the week before Mother’s Day to get the nicest choice. Invariably it would be a cold spell and they’d have to all line up in the garage. It is a small garage and no room in there, so I had to resort to the coverings too. And rocks to secure them. And, you had to take everything out in the morning before leaving for work and put them in the sun and water them. Here in Michigan they say not to plant before Memorial Day Weekend and I follow that advice – we will get to 80 Sunday but like two weeks ago, that is a fluke!

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