FOR ME, GARDENING in the back yard always brings wonder, inspiration and learning, with an occasional dash of frustration. The garden keeps me on my toes while it brings me to my knees. It always provides me mental challenges along with many opportunities for age-appropriate physical exercise. Looking back at fall 2020 through summer 2021, a few lessons stand out.
FALL
The autumn of 2020 caught me and some of my favorite plants off guard, as if Covid hadn’t already furnished enough to deal with. While I took a short southern vacation over the Halloween weekend, my Rhode Island home was enveloped in snow and subjected to temperatures in the low 20s. Just a short time later, six consecutive days broke the records for high temperature.
The tropical hibiscus and angel’s trumpet () I’d left outside were damaged badly during the whipsawing conditions. I was able to revive some of them,
