Today, I am very cranky.  If you don't want to read further, I completely understand. "Why?" you ask. Well, central Oklahoma had another freeze last night, and what wasn't frozen was heavily frosted a la winter birthday cake.  For Pete's sake, it's April 3rd already, and I live in USDA Zone 7. It's 43F right now (10:00 a.m.) with a projected high of 67F.  On Saturday, the high is supposed to be 78F.   Sounds nice, but do you see all of those temperatures bouncing around like Mexican jumping beans?  It's hard on the plants, and on gardeners.  Normally, I worry about the projected lows until April 15th, but this is the craziest spring of my memory.  We've had really balmy days, followed by high winds and hail.  We had snow last week, and now, get this, the northwest part of the state (where the heaviest snowfall was) is warmer...

Last week's freeze damage is just now starting to show. I didn't cover this Japanese maple located in the front bed because I thought it was close enough to the house and had plenty of protection. Another variety, 'Crimson Queen,' nearby sustained no damage, but this one was badly hurt. It is sad, but this is how things sometimes go, and when I started this blog, I promised to share the good and the bad.  The good news is the tree lives, and some leaves weren't injured. A few of the hostas in the back garden suffered too, especially these lime green ones.  They look just like the wilted lettuce at the back of my fridge. The remaining blooms on the Jane magnolia, along with those tulips and daffodils I didn't bring in, look pretty bad.  Certain ferns, like my black-stemmed maidenhair also suffered. So, where do we go from...

For those of you just joining us, we're so glad you came to visit.  Each week, I, along with Carol of May Dreams Gardens and Mary Ann of Idaho Gardener will take you on the unfolding journey of our vegetable gardens.  For prior submissions, please see the links at the end of this letter. Dear Carol and Mary Ann, Well, when we discussed writing this series of letters, I wasn't so naive that I believed all would be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezey.  After all, tiptoeing through the tulips is fine in a song, but not very realistic or practical in application.  I considered how an infestation of tomato hornworms, locusts or a heat wave of historic proportions might hit the garden.  However, in all of my wildest disaster fantasies, I never dreamt of a blizzard in late March. This week has been full of anxiety throughout Oklahoma.  The meterologists, almost rubbing their hands...

There is an historic snowstorm barreling toward Oklahoma with blizzard conditions already reported in the western part of the state where my friend, Brit' Gal Sarah, blogs and gardens.  Often, the panhandle and surrounding area get much more extreme weather than we do in the central part of the state.  However, this storm is so large that we will not escape the snow, nor the freezing temperatures.  Some forecasters are kindly saying we'll have a low of 33F tonight.  Others are predicting 20F.  That's not a typo. I can barely write this, and you, my blogging friends and gardeners, will mourn with me I know. Meteorologists are often wrong, and as you all know, a degree or two, up or down, can make a huge difference.  Let's hope that this is one of those times.  Just in case we do get a late freeze of epic proportions, I've written about...