Frost Advisory

(Note: Nora and I did not realize that we were simultaneously drafting posts on the same topic.  See her much more humorously written post below.)

We are under a frost advisory this evening.  Our “typical” fall frost date tends to be closer to October 5^th – not September.  For those of you who are not gardeners, this means little.  You will not understand the sense of frustration, and dare I say despair, that such an early frost brings with it.  A frost, no matter how light, has the very real potential for not only wiping out all the cold sensitive vegetables – tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers -- but deals a double blow.  This frost is likely to kill off my gorgeous dahlias, zinnias and sunflowers;  cut down cruelly and prematurely at the very height of their splendor.  I waited with great anticipation for the month of September solely so I could enjoy the richly colored, heavily petaled blooms of the dahlias and zinnias.  And the sunflowers – I love how their 10’ stalks and huge, fan shaped leaves seem to shelter you as you enter the vegetable garden while their sun-like faces smile down on you.  Now these gentle guardians of the garden will be struck down in their prime by some minuscule crystals.  It seems hugely unfair.