Weather Whiplash

Weather whiplash.

I didn’t really think it was a thing, but this past five days has made me a believer.

The low temperature in Indianapolis on Wednesday, January 30, 2019 was -9F.  Minus nine degrees Fahrenheit.

The high temperature in Indianapolis on Sunday, February 3, 2019 was 61F.  Sixty-one degrees Fahrenheit.

I’ll let you do the work of figuring out that is 70 degrees difference in five days. And in between those five days, we also got several inches of snow which is now gone.

Whew. No wonder the lone snowdrop that started blooming on January 2nd looks like it has been whipped around and slapped upside its petals.

It has been whipped around and slapped upside its petals.

It’s suffering from weather whiplash, which I am convinced now is a real thing.

The weather whiplash has me all itchy and twitchy to get out and do some gardening. Well, that and the April-like forecast for this week.

Perhaps this forecast calls for some border cleanup? Maybe seed starting? Maybe some fresh air for the houseplants?

And then I tell myself “no, no, no”. No. I am sticking to my usual gardening schedule which is to not do much of anything in the garden in February. I’m going to leave it alone.

But the garden, I don’t know what it plans to do during this February warm up.

Perhaps force out a few earlier than usual blooms? I’ll go out and check every little bit to see if anything blooms because I hate when an early bloomer blooms and I miss it. Seems sinful to miss it, in a way. Besides, those lawn crocuses usually start blooming in February, so it is time, almost.

Maybe the garden is going to heave out some shallow rooted perennials like mums? I’ll go out and check for that, too, and give those plants a gentle little stomp to push them back into the ground.

I might get some more houseplants. This is great weather to bring home new houseplants. They won’t go into shock from the cold on their trip from the garden center to the car.  Notice I wrote garden center. I’m fortunate that a local garden center has an excellent selection of houseplants. I only buy houseplants at the big box store in an emergency.

I define “emergency” rather loosely, by the way. It is an emergency if an unusual plant shows up at the big box store and grabs my attention with its variegated foliage or interesting bloom.

Anyway, I’m working through my weather whiplash with deep breathing exercises, seed catalog browsing, and cooing over my houseplants. I suggest others with this condition do the same and don’t jump start too much in the garden.

It’s still February!