Forward Thinking Azaleas!

   Just about a week ago, the temperatures overnight took a nosedive to freezing.  While that may seem like a trivial thing to folks in other parts of the nation, here it is a BIG thing.  We don't do cold.  Well, we do but it rarely comes so we are pretty much unprepared.  Throw a tropical storm at us...we are good.  Throw a hurricane at us...we prepare but we are good.  Throw freezing weather at us...we are not the best.  No one down here in the Deep South are not sure if we should bring in the plants, wrap the pipes and hunker down with the pets or wrap the pets, bring in the pipes and hunker down with the plants.  So...we usually don't do much of anything and hope for the best.  I did pull Bat, the cat, up on the bed with me for extra warmth but those other things were pretty much left to fend for themselves.  Luckily, we still have water with no busted pipes but the plants look a little worse for wear.  Meh...they will be fine in a few days...I hope.

  To go even further with this, our plants do not even know how to react.  We have had two days of sunshine and warm temperatures and, lo and behold, the azaleas have decided it was time to bloom.  Imagine my surprise as I was gathering what my granddaughter calls "firesticks" (twigs for the fireplace), to find several of the azaleas with blooms.  Granted, these were tucked beneath the thick leaves or nestled near the ground covered with leaf litter but they were blooming!  I had to smile as I thought of how Mother Nature was trying her best to brighten my day after the past few gloomy weeks.  Ahh, she knew what I needed!  

  Now that I have spied the blooms, thoughts of starting seeds for the spring gardens are whirling about in the head.  I am definitely my father's daughter as he would have been doing the same.  "We have to build the hotbed tomorrow.  It is time to start the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants." he would say only to hear Mom say "It is too early!  What about that Easter freeze?"  The conversation between Pop and Mom would continue but he would inevitably build that hotbed and sow the seeds....and inevitably, two months later, that Easter freeze would see us scrambling to cover the plants that were already set out in the fields.  Mom would just smile that all knowing smile...

  Easter freeze or not, I am thinking some seeds will be started this week.  I do have the makeshift greenhouse where I can tuck them if need be but I agree with Pop.  Some cold weather makes for hardy plants!  It is early but I am so ready.  Spring?  Nah, just some "forward thinking" azaleas!