The Freezing of Flowerland: A "Psycho Gardener" Faces Her First Frost

"Are you nuts? They're frozen!" my neighbor Connie hollered across the street as she caught me standing outside with a garden hose at 6 a.m. on a 29 degree morning, spraying water on flowerbeds. It was a desperate attempt to rescue a few dozen more blooms and herbs for potpourri... perfectly normal behavior, right?

It's not as though I need more flowers brought inside. Every table, every counter, every shelf is covered with vases of roses and other flowers. My kids are complaining that there are no drinking glasses because they're all full of flowers. Dozens of paper bags of drying herbs and potpourri hang from every available hook. There are so many pots of plants I dug up to rescue from the cold in my living room that I should really hang out a shingle and open a flower shop.

My refrigerator is full of mysterious jars of liquid marked "do not drink" that contain potions such as mint extract, rose water,and so forth. There is a plate of "bath cookies" marked "do not eat" on my dining room table made from my fresh mint harvest. I have enough bags of saved seed to supply someone with about 50 flower beds. Need more? I think not...

It's just that my yard kind of... well... exploded on me, and I can't say goodbye!

Before turning into the "psychotic flower lady," as my teenaged son now calls me (I don't want to know what the neighbors call me!), I started out with a few basic perennials and vegetables. My sister-in-law brought my mother-in-law's spring bulbs to me to care for after she passed away. At that point, I had a couple of decent flower beds and some nice tomatoes. Things didn't get really crazy until about 2000!