It's going to be interesting here.......the temperature forecasts change as often as the peso to dollar. We have extensive plantings in trees/shrubs/flowers/fruits/vegetables. Far too many to ever even think about protecting. I have ten or twenty types of shrubs in bloom now. An extraordinarily lovely fruit set this year for peaches and apples. Blueberries almost sized up. Strawberries starting to turn red. Brambles all in bloom. Grapes starting to get little bunches on them with new vines planted. sigh. I spent all day on the veggie garden. I put it in three weeks later than last year, and just finished the plantings (all but the melons) yesterday. Guess who saddled up at ten this morning haying in the rows of potatoes so I wouldn't get foliage die-back. Hot capping tomatoes. Covering the cukes and beans who are already budded and about to flower. I did also cover the strawberry bed. It's each man for his own now and keeping fingers crossed that they'll be off a few degrees too high. I am a serious food producer.......flowers can come again next year, but I have an empty pantry to fill and I sure as ..........don't want to have to replant everything.

I thought I better get on here and respond before this post gets bumped to page 2. You can tell it's spring by the activity on the forum lately...it's hard to keep up. But I love it! Anyhow, thank you to all who commented. For those who liked the clematis let me also mention that it is wonderful in the evening. Those pure white blooms under the moonlight are heavenly. They really show up! This clematis is only in it's second season here, believe it or not. I am very happy with it and to dipsandtets...you are very wise to get his one. Also, to those who asked about the blue columbine it IS indeed all blue, and as blue as blue can get. I don't know names of any of them since they came from mixed seeds. (Sorry I'm not any help on that). I have a lot of pass-along plants that were given to me or from seeds from others' gardens. I have been collecting plants for most of my life, and oh the story some could tell. Thanks again! Celeste

Sweet corn here is from Florida and it was not bad at 20 cents an ear. I put an ear in the microwave. It was 95f here yesterday, 91F the day before and we had a three day yard sale thursday, Friday and Saturday, so no cooking then either. I didn't cook one darned thing this weekend except pancakes for Bud and Makayla, who spent the weekend. Other than that we ate ice cream and cold sandwiches and the kids ran through the sprinkler while I planted artichokes and tomatoes and took a break every five minutes to stand in the sprinkler! I have two flats of tomatoes at the farm, that's 96 plants, a mix of Rutgers and Bonny Best. Here in my raised beds at the house I've limited myself to two of each variety I planted except the white tomatoes. I planted two Cherokee Purple, although they never do particularly well. Also two Pineapple, two Big Rainbow, two Golden Jubilee, two SunGold, two Mortgage lifter and a dozen of the as yet unidentified "white" tomato. Mother saved seeds from last year, I bought a container of tomato plants from the 4H kids last year that were simply labelled "white". They were one of the best tomatoes I've ever eaten, so this year I have a dozen plants, LOL. I think they may be White Queen or something similar, a beefsteak type tomato. I started two dozen artichokes inside about March, no one I know in Michigan has ever grown artichokes successfully so of course I have to try. I don't have air conditioning and the pool isn't quite clean yet, so it was way too hot to cook, even outside. Too hot to eat too. Annie

Thanks guys! He's currently in a 4" pot inside the pineapple (since the pineapple didn't have drainage holes).