The Aftermath: My Garden Before & After Texas’s Record-Breaking Winter Storm
With shards of ice raining down from the trees, the snow is finally melting down here in Central Texas. It’s a little early to start running victory laps for my garden, but we know how good I am about waiting…
I didn’t even have the patience to hold off until temps reached 32F (like I told myself I would) to uncover the plants. Just before 9AM, the temperatures were around 25F, and the plants were already getting sun and I said “F- it. I’m uncovering them.” Many of the plants had a soft little layer of frost on them, but overall everything I covered looked pretty darn great. I wanted to yell to Andrew, “We did it, Joe!” like Kamala did after election day, but he was already inside.
I am SO proud of the work that I did to protect my flowers from the cold. Most of my ranunculus appear to have survived. They didn’t look great when I first removed the coverings, but you can see their improvement literally as the hours pass (I checked on them at least 4 times today before I even took my lunch break).
4 Hours of Ranunculus in the Sun Progress
It feels so rewarding to still have flowers standing, when the outlook was so dire. This feels like one of those “Haters said I couldn’t do it,” moments, but they weren’t even haters– they were just gardeners, friends, and family who realistically said that these plants had pretty much zero chance of making it out alive… I don’t blame them for thinking that. The temps went as low as 3F!!
Not even exaggerating, my neighbor said “bless your heart” for trying to keep those plants alive through the storm. But she was VERY happy (and complementary) when she saw that they made it!
Many of my daffodils and tulips appear to have survived, as did my muscari. My dad’s rose bush escaped with only minor flecks of ice, and I think it was barely impacted by the cold.
The Budding Tulip
The Hello Kitty Corn Cob (aka Pink Sunrise Muscari)
Eiffel Tower Rose Bush
Ranunculus
As you can see, I have a lot to be happy about today. It’s been a hard week for many people throughout Texas, and we’re finally reaching the end of the bad weather. We’ll have one more freeze tonight (so I’ll have to go back and re-cover everything) but that should be a breeze considering how well practiced I am at applying them!
Andrew and I will be celebrating with hot fudge sundaes from McDonalds.
stay warm my friends.
-bbb
