After a couple of nights of frost warning, things got a bit more challenging for the gardening, orcharding and landscaping folks in these parts last week; we had two consecutive nights of hard freeze, one of which was accompanied by over four inches of snow. (No, that is not normal for mid-April in northeast Kansas.)

My friends’ tomato plants and a couple of their ornamentals took a beating. A fatal beating as it turns out. Even though I’m no horticulturist, I know that when plants wilt into a dirty dishrag shape and turn black, it’s over for them.

But the nursery sections at the box stores and nurseries still have plenty of plants in stock and they replaced the tomato plants. Not sure yet what they’re going to do about the Looks Like Bougainvillea But It’s Not plant. I’m sure they’ll figure out something.

As to my own figuring, I thought, “Well, there goes this year’s peach crop.” (I tried being an optimist several years back but I got tired of being wrong so much of the time.) But when I looked out the back stairs window yesterday morning, I saw several new blooms have opened up on the peach tree. I think maybe that layer of snow actually insulated the buds from the cold.

God has a way of bringing us through the setbacks and disappointments in our lives. I’ve noticed that in most cases the trauma I actually suffered is less severe than what I expected. And in all cases, his grace brings healing to those who are willing to cooperate with the project.

H. Arnett

4/26/21