I loved the early spring season in NY. We live up on a hill which is surprisingly enough to lower the temperature by a few degrees on a regular basis. So spring take a little longer to arrive at our house. And plants need to be a little hardier up here.

This year despite having a few unseasonably warm days where it was near 80 degrees it has been mostly an early spring season with cold mornings often with frost or nearly cold enough for frost. Which if the forecast is for 35 then it very likely will be cold enough for frost at our house. This has taken a toll on our early spring plants this year.

Our cherry tree blossomed then quickly faded. Then our small magnolia tree was getting close to flowering and just as a few flowers bloomed it got cold overnight again and most of the flowers on the tree died.

Many of our perennials have begun rising up from the dirt. Sprouting and leafing out. Some of them are pretty hardy especially ones that don’t flower until much later in the year like phlox. But there’s like our two beautiful bleeding heart plants that began growing so well now look very wilted at the tips after several very cold nights. I am not sure how that will impact their growth the rest of the season. I also really liked the look of the twisted together leaves of our hosta plants as they merged from the ground. But when I photographed them it began evident how wilted some of the leaves looked.

I love this time of year because it is literally a time of growth and renewal. It inspires me and it makes me feel invigorated. But the overnight cold naps damaging the plants is a little dispiriting. I look forward to having the plants growing in my yard throughout the year. They are part of what I love about where I live. Having the opportunity o grow and cultivate our landscape and add to nature here. It is hard when things do not go smoothly.

But that is nature and life unravels in unexpected ways sometimes. Some days it is too hot and some days it is too cold. Yet we must endure. And we must go on. Keep growing. Hopefully the struggle for growth will make us stronger in the next season of life.

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