I really do know better than to put out tender new plants right now. However, this past Tuesday, after I put on my long overalls and two shirts and a big, heavy sweatshirt, I did go out and do some raking and some cleaning up in the yard. I went inside for some lunch, and before I went back out, I changed into my short overalls and a lighter weight top. No heavy sweatshirt. It was 72°. On Wednesday, the high temperature was 79°, and I planted some bright yellow pansies in the front bed and hung planters with yellow violas on the porch rail. Those plants are quite winter hardy and will bloom (if I make sure to water them when it doesn’t rain) all the rest of the winter and into early spring.
Thursday’s high was 68°, and that was at midnight. It quickly fell to the mid 50’s and stayed there, all day. And that’s the forecast for Friday. Saturday through Monday could see light freezes.
I have, of course, learned the hard way, not to be tricked by this fake springtime weather. After all, it is winter. A few years ago, snow fell in April. It was early April, but April, all the same. April in Central Texas.
We have had some light freezes.
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- There was a light freeze a while ago, and some of the ferns at the north side of the house were affected. Often, by now, all of them are brown and dry. Right now, LOTS of them are still green.
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- The pyracantha plants’ leaves show some frost damage, but not a lot.
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- And the daisies are as sturdy as ever.
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- AND, I found this hardy guy on Tuesday, after I’d planted the pansies.
The forecasts seem to indicate that we’ve had the last of the really cold weather. But I’m not going to be fooled by that. I’ll wait until it’s sensible and reasonable to plant anything new and to get those tender plants out of the FlowerHouse, where most of them are looking pretty healthy.
As the snow and rain that fall from heaven do not return until they have accomplished their purpose, soaking the earth and causing it to sprout with new life, providing seed to sow and bread to eat, so also will be the word that I speak; it does not return to me unfulfilled. My word performs my purpose and fulfills the mission I sent it out to accomplish.
Isaiah 55:10-11 (The Passion Translation)
I love these words. I love the analogy that helps me recall, when I’m digging and planting and weeding and tending, that, just as the lovely results in my yard comes from the work I do there, the work I do for God also brings lovely results.
Your lovely results live on in all the children with whon you have worked, taught, mentored, and loved for all these years,,,they are the garden, blooming in the love-light of your examdple. !