Here’s the peach tree, very sensibly NOT budding during a recent snowfall.

A few weeks ago, between snowfalls, the ice cleared off just enough for Brent to get to work. Another hard freeze was forecast for that night. After lunch I looked out my window and noticed that the formerly all-grey peach tree had developed a deep pink glow.

I panicked and emailed Brent:

ME: GAAAAH! I just took a look at the peach tree. It’s covered with partly-opened FLOWERS. NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!!

BRENT: WHAT???! What is it thinking??!!! You’re standing out there all night with two hair blowers! (He says hair blowers just to bug me.)

ME: Au contraire. Since I correctly refer to them as hair dryers, it looks like YOU will be standing out there with your “hair blowers.”

Then I went outside to look at the tree close up, and found the flower buds had not actually opened. Whew! Dodged that bullet.

Sure enough, the overnight temperature dropped into the 20s. Then we warmed up into the 40s, with no frost in the forecast the next few days.

This was almost mid-March, just past the date of the “average last frost.” Of course we weren’t out of the woods yet. “Average last” frost isn’t the same at “Last date you need to worry about” frost.

But the winds turned south, the sun came out for a day or two, and then we got a nice wet-but-warm streak. All the rain and mild temps woke up the buds for sure.

I took this latest photo of the tree on a recent foggy morning.

Barring a really, really late freeze, we might just have another bumper crop this year. But I’ll dig out from under that when the time comes.

Meanwhile, I’m so thankful that no matter how cold and slushy and leafless the outdoors becomes in winter, a change of season always waits just around the next corner.

Thanks for reading,
Jan