You just never know! We knew we had a small chance of flurries mixed with rain. We went to bed with a Winter Weather Advisory and woke up with a Winter Weather Warning. It has been several years since we had snow and that was just a light dusting one February a few years back. When you never get snow, even flurries cause excitement.
Yesterday I moved the final tender plants inside as we have lows predicted in the 20’s for several days. Aloe vera, semi-hardy Passiflora and Aristolochia gigantea were moved to the shed. A flowering bromeliade and another tropical were moved indoors to rest alongside the plumerias which were moved indoors in Sunday afternoon.
Today I covered the shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana), firecracker plant (Russelia equisetiformis) and Bougainvillea with trash cans and large pots. I moved the spider plants (Chlorophytum spp.) indoors. I pulled up a couple dozen pepper plants from the garden, placed them inside pots, and put them in the garage until I place them back into the garden in spring. I also potted up one ornamental pepper and a few basil plants that were pushing out new growth on the lower parts of the stems and put those in the kitchen window. I disconnected garden hoses and attached the insulators, opened the drains on the rain barrels and put water wands and sprinklers into the shed. All of this with rain coming down and only a few areas with a a light dusting of icy snow.
Sometime after going inside to refill my coffee cup with USDA Organic (The Bean Coffee Company) Peppermint Mocha, it began to snow! Real flakes of snow!
It was beautiful! I’m a total kid when it snows! I mean the USDA ARS station and MSSTATE offices closed where we work, so it no less exciting than watching the school closings listed on the television screen in the early morning when you are a kid.
I grabbed my Canon 60D for some shots, but all of these were just quickies taken with my ATT ZTE phone. I began to shout and sing Alice Cooper’s School’s Out for Summer! (hope we get to see him in Biloxi, again, in 2018!) You know the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear (Yeah, we watched ELF last night).
The berries on the nandina shrub were looking extra festive with a little white on the landscape.
I’m glad I got my tender tropicals covered this morning. Sweet dreams shrimp plant!
It’s a winter’s dream in my Midnight Garden of Goods and Evils!
One thing I love about Mississippi winter is that it is full of flowering plants. These pink camellias brighten our special wintry day!
The azaleas have started flowering, and though they will keep flowering through March, they are particularly delightful on a gray day.
The palm fronds may be dropping with snow now, but they will be perky in 70 degree temps in another week.
I hope you are enjoying this December as much as I am. In a few days I will re-pack my long underwear and sweaters (those which I sometimes never unpack all winter here) and count the days until shorts weather returns in a week. Until then I will bundle up, grab a hot toddy, watch some Christmas movies and browse my newest copy of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog.
Yours in Gardening,
The Garden Maiden
copyright 2017 The Garden Maiden
The Garden Maiden 