The Wrath of Spring?!?

These last few days have been very depressing weather wise. We have had rain/ snow mix for 3 days in a row! The temperatures have been hovering around zero at night and only managing to climb to +5c or so during the day. Feels like early April, not the end of May!!! 
The worst of it is, a person feels helpless to do a darn thing about it!  (Except maybe take a trip to southern Ontario where they are basking in +30 C weather!  Nothing like rubbing our noses in it!)

Unfortunately when the weather was +20C a few days ago, I was lulled into a false sense of security by a very temperamental Mother (Nature) and I planted out the 6 tomatoes, 3 spaghetti squashes which I started from seed. And remember the canna lilies and 3 huge dahlias that I started in March?... yes, I planted those in the flower beds, too. Lets not forget the cosmos, the pink Gauras, the marigolds, and snapdragons, and even 2 delicate beautiful red tuberous begonias. 


Did I mention the 5  big green wooden tubs in the yard, or the 2 flower boxes which I had planted full of enticing annuals already?  (dark blue petunias, white Diamond Frost euphorbia, regal geraniums, sapphire blue regatta lobelia, white osteospermum daisies, deep blue giant pansies, Orbit Pink geraniums, lime green lysemachia (creeping jenny)... and the list goes on! 


And how can I forget the 2 big deck pots which I planted lovingly with Samba red geraniums in one and mango colored osteospermum daisies in the other.... At least those I can drag up close to the house under the roof of the covered deck to keep them from the wrath of Spring!

The purple 'ghost' in the garden is protecting some of my more delicate plants...




To try and foil Mother Nature's nasty mood, we have been going out every evening for 6 days now and covering up as much as we can with the old sheets and towels that we have on hand for that purpose, (being wise to Mother Nature's temperamental 'nature", pun intended!).  ( I draw the line at raiding my linen closet, though! LOL!)


On a more positive note,  the Hyer apple tree is trying to bloom, and the white blossoms usually look wonderful!    But I'm afraid that those blossoms may have fallen victim to the spring fiasco this poor excuse for weather, sadly...  The crab apple blossoms are presently still in bloom, although they may just be frozen onto the branches! At this point it's hard to tell!  Which means, we may have a very meager crop of Hyer apples and crabapples this fall....

Funny how things have the tendency to come back and haunt you... (I was going to say, "bite you in the ass" but this is a public forum after all....   :)   
We have had such a bumper crop of apples and crabs in the past  that we had far more than we knew what to do with. Dare I say, I got tired of making crab apple jelly... We even bought a juicer and made apple juice! I peeled and chopped apples, made pies and froze some apples for future baking. My husband cooperated by making a batch of white apple wine which tasted delicious!


There were so many apples on the little Hyer tree that many would fall to the ground every day. I didn't want to leave them there because they attract the porcupines that live "next door"  in the ravine, so each day I would crawl around under the tree, scooping up the fallen apples and loading them into my trusty laundry basket to carry down to the compost at the far end of the yard. Needless to say, I was getting a little tired of apples. 

Now this year NONE of this may even be an issue at all!  Time will tell...  

The lilacs were looking lovely as well, but they are pathetically drooping their little clusters now, heavy with the wet slush weighing them down.  


Generally this has been my favorite time of year, but not this year! I'm afraid to plant any more of my bedding plants right now and they are left sitting frigidly, huddled together on the plastic trays next to the front door awaiting their fate.


The dandelions are still blooming, of course and doing great in spite of all my efforts to dig them up! But I don't want to talk about that...

Trying to stay positive...  Environment Canada says that this ugly streak should smarten up by Wednesday or Thursday ... or Friday... or maybe Saturday... or maybe by July?

Have had lots of opportunity this weekend to quilt, to read, to catch up on housework, to blog...