This is the time of year when Mother Nature can’t make up her mind. Should I be warm and sunny or warm and cloudy, perhaps rainy, or should I make it snow? It has been mostly warm and spring like and our plants have taken off and produced beautiful blooms and leaves. The overnight forecast is for 27 degrees and snow.

We are not happy about the cold temperature and the possibility of snow. Mother Nature wreaks havoc on our yard. Frost now is likely to kill off any potential fruit for this year on our plum, cherry, serviceberry, mulberry, and pear trees. Not to mention the flowers that will suffer. We got a late freeze last year too. Even the hydrangeas in the walled garden were set back and didn’t bloom until later in the summer.

Before I invested so much effort into gardening, the weather didn’t matter so much to me. It was, what it was. If it was cold for a night, then the heater ran in the house and the next day was better. It wasn’t on my mind. Now, one night like this can do irreparable damage for the growing season. For us, this is mostly an inconvenience. For farmers, this can be catastrophic. Their livelihood relies on plants and trees. A late frost can drive up prices for the next year as produce must be shipped from far away until next year when we can try again. I notice these events even more since I retired and spend so much time gardening.

I have blueberry bushes to worry about this year too. From what I read, they should be ok since they are just getting their leaves for the year and don’t have flower buds yet. We planted two blueberry bushes last year and I am picking up three more bushes on Thursday. I hope to be inundated with blueberries in a few years.

So, we enjoy the blooms while we can and hope that the weathermen are wrong!