Dogwood Winter

True Southerners have an aversion to really cold weather, especially when it happens during a sacred time period. By this I mean SPRINGTIME! Every winter, despite our doubts, we anxiously await the result of our friend, Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog.

This year, however, something has gone seriously awry- even by the beloved groundhog's standard we are well past the extra six weeks of winter and well into every southern town's Dogwood Festivities. My husband and I spend countless hours grooming and offering blood, sweat and money into our beloved gardens. We are after all, on the Dogwood Trail where hundreds of people drive through neighborhoods admiring spring flowers- especially azaleas and the countless blooming dogwoods. Our front yard alone has nine dogwood trees, not to mention a beautifully blooming weeping cherry.

Now you're asking- where is the OXYMORON in all of this? We should suck it up- it's just a few days of chilly weather! Apparently, there is an anomaly called DOGWOOD WINTER. This is where cold weather happens while the Dogwoods are in bloom. Well, this year's OXYMORON award goes to the 28 degree snowy weather that is happening during the 2nd week of APRIL. Thanks to mother nature all of my beautiful trees will lose their beginning blooms, my azalea buds will drop off and my perennials will struggle. Forget any annuals- they're doomed completely. Maybe the desert has it right. Plant rocks.