Peony for your thoughts? Some old timers call them “pine-ys”. They are fully in bloom and lovely right now. These are the kind of plants that can benefit from some staking because those blooms are BIG and heavy. But I don’t stake my peony plants, so tomorrow I might find all the flower stems bent over double trying to hold up these BIG flowers.
I hope not.
I also hope that the rumors aren’t true. My boss first told me about the rumor on Monday, almost as soon as I returned to work.
Then my sister called and left a message in the evening to tell me her husband had heard the rumor and if it was true, what should she do?
I didn’t get right back to her, so she left me another voice mail on Tuesday. Then a couple of other people asked me if I had heard the rumor.
I did some checking, and I don’t think the rumor is going to turn out to be true. That’s the thing about rumors, you can’t always believe them. But sometimes they are so believable, you should take the time to check them out, just in case. Then you can prepare yourself.
And the rumor?
That we might get some frost Thursday night or Friday night.
F-r-o-s-t.
That would not be good.
It would be cruel. The month of May can not, would not, do that to us! Not after all the lovely warm days we’ve had. Could it?
But I checked the weather and it appears the lows will be in the low 40’s Thursday night, high 40’s Friday night, so we should be okay.
I didn’t panic when I first heard the rumors. I stayed calm, I kept my wits about me. I didn’t even flinch. Why? Because I haven’t planted the frost-tender vegetable plants yet. And if we have a spring frost around here, it would only really settle in the lower lying areas, and of course the vegetable garden is at the lowest point in the back yard.
But even though I think there won’t be frost in the next few days, I think I’ll wait until Saturday to plant my tomatoes and peppers and the rest of the vegetable garden. Just in case…
Sometimes us procrastinators win!! I don’t have anything planted yet, so I won’t need to worry. But after this weekend, it better not even think of frosting!
I hope it doesn’t frost Carol, but I guess you could always do the mist-thing the night before and early in the morning, making sure there’s a coating of moisture in the ground and on the plants. [Like I have to tell this to a horticultural wizard like you!]
It’s been such a weird year for everyone – this would just send everyone over the edge, wouldn’t it!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Oh, I hope you don’t get frost, not with all the splendid flowers you have in abundance!
Late frost in May (and sometimes even in early June) can be a real worry. Hopefully your garden will not be hit by it. I’ve put my annuals out very early this year (end of April) because of this ridiculous Summer weather we had for over 6 weeks. So far so good and now that the Ice Saints have passed (11 – 16 May), the chance of frost is slim over here.
It was wise to keep your annuals back, especially since you had such a nasty and cold April.
I’m in Vonlafin’s camp. No annuals are out at home and only a few at the site. I bought a lot of tender plants this week, so off to the greenhouse they go today. I’m north of you and the forecast is about 5 degrees lower so I’d better prepare for a frost.
Around here, we plan on frost right through to the very end of May, and we’ve had early June frost a number of years. On Monday morning it was 26.8F, which blasted the leaves on some emerging hydrangea and hosta foliage. But no frost since then, and none in the 7 day forecast. It’s possible that will be our last one. Stranger things have happened, but I’m not counting on it, no sirree.
Vonlafin… It’s like the old story of the race between the turtle and hare, isn’t it? By July, who can tell who planted early and who planted late?
Annie in Austin… A frost might send me over the edge! I’ve heard of the misting but haven’t tried it. The last late frost we had, I covered my tomatoes and peppers but it got so cold, I lost them all anyway! Shudder… I don’t like to think about it! Maybe this year I’d try smudge pots
Anna Marie… Thanks for the warm thoughts. I can move the flowers in containers inside if I have to!
Yolanda Elizabet… Ice Saints? I haven’t heard of those and will have to look that up. We had such a warm week last week, everyone thought we’d be safe, and we still may be okay.
Earth Girl… Yes, up in your neck of the woods, frost is probably more likely. Better safe than sorry.
Kathy… You are a wise one to not count on a few warm days to signal the end of any frost. The latest I’ve ever heard of frost around here is May 25th, and that was in 1925. The latest I’ve seen frost is around May 20th in 2002.
Yes, we have a frost warning rumor in NJ also. And of course, the one year that I put my tomatoes out early. 🙁
Plus we had a bad thunderstorm last night with reports of tornados in Northern NJ and parts of NY including Brooklyn. They’re reporting that they weren’t real tornados and only “micro bursts” but I don’t think all the downed trees agree with the weatherman.
I think crazy weather has become the new normal.
Am keeping my fingers crossed that there is not a frost. It’s a good thing that you haven’t planted out your tender veggies.
The local geezer wisdom is no plants get set out until after the 15th of May, but some outlying areas are expecting temps in the low thirties for the next few days.It was about 45 when I got up this morning, so I’m glad I got the greenhouse built.
I’m grateful for the Canadian cold front that came through yesterday and brought us cooler (low 80s) temps and low, low humidity. Ahhh! But I sure don’t wish for that front to hit you with a late frost. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
I hope you’re right, Carol. This is indeed the strangest weather, I’ve ever seen. I’m glad it cooled off but this is crazy. I have several of the buckets that my grasses and shrubs came in, I may have to use them as well as blankets to cover my flower beds. Hopefully I won’t have too.
That rumor made it all the way to Chicago, Carol. I’ve already planted my tomatoes, cukes and annuals.
I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have a late May freeze.
Well, at 3:00 AM it’s 39° here…
This has got to be the strangest winter and spring ever. We tied a record high just two days ago at 91°!
Well, I feel like I cheated since I came to read this but was first distracted by your latest post…which was about the light frost. It seems most cruel. I hope that is the end of it…it’s time for spring, spring, spring!