A Kansas Country Garden: Bad Plant Momma!

Ah, autumn! Who doesn't love this season? The cooler days, the colorful leaves and dusky skies along with the musty scent of fallen leaves make it very pleasant. But autumn is a season of endings as well. In the back of every gardener's mind is a poignant question. When will the killing frost arrive? You know its coming, but you don't when. 

There is an undercurrent of urgency. A freeze is final. The vegetable garden is pretty much done so I'm not concerned about that. Its the the houseplants that need to be moved inside that chaff at me.  There are far too many of them and they have only grown and multiplied over the summer.

What should I bring in? What should I allow to die? Do I really want to spend them winter living in a jungle? Where, oh, where can I put them? These are decisions I don't want to make but can't be avoided. Transporting plants inside is a my least favorite chore and one I need to recruit muscled help for in hauling in the larger ones. 

Each day the weather seems a little cooler. Mike starts a fire in the wood stove insert to take the chill out of the air. I know my outdoor plants are not happy, but I just can't deal with them. We are hosting a party on Friday evening and I have a couple of projects to complete this week; there's too much to do.

As they are leaving the party on Friday one of the guests remarks that he is planning to go home and cover plants. The big freeze is predicted to come that night.  But I am tired and so I go to bed. Even so I am a bit stunned in the morning when I look out the window. Frost covers the grass and trees. The cars look like they need to be scraped. A glance at the thermometer tells me the temperature outside hovers at 28 degrees. I am a bad plant momma. My poor plants! Sometimes avoiding decisions is a decision. 

Time to go inside for winter.

How much damage has occurred? It's hard to tell initially. As the temperature warms you can see how the plants withstood the cold. 


Actually the damage is surprisingly minor. Because it was very wet and because most of the plant are close to the house under the eaves the plants appear to be just fine. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. 


No more excuses! Its time to get them moved in. To prepare plant for indoor life, I used a concoction (recipe here) to protect and prevent insect infestation. I invited my son over for supper, found a few more places inside to tuck in more plants and soon the job was done without too much major clean up afterwards.  Whew! 

Dixon is doing her part in garden cleanup.