The forecast this coming weekend reminds me of the winter of 1989. I remember my parents had planned a fancy family Christmas dinner for adults only. I can’t remember if we kids helped serve dinner or if we were instructed to make ourselves scarce . . . probably the latter. What I do remember is that we had these white walls outside our front porch with large outdoor lights on the corners. My mom had tied big red Christmas bows on them and as we welcomed my aunts and uncles to our house, those red bows were ever-so-lightly dotted with flecks of ice. I hesitate to call it snow now, but as kids, that’s what we thought it was. Yup, we thought it was snowing in Florida, so we made fools of ourselves running around trying to catch a snowflake on our tongues.
As fun as those memories are, I don’t really want a repeat of that winter, and after frost everywhere Monday morning this past week and the cold rain Tuesday and Wednesday, I’m all ready for winter to pack up and bring us back to the tropical paradise our area typically is. Unfortunately, this weekend’s forecast isn’t cooperating. In case you haven’t checked the forecast, it is going to be cold. Like super cold. Maybe not quite record-breaking 1989 cold, but the coldest since 2018 and maybe since 2011. To my daughters’ chagrin, there is no snow in the forecast, but it will be way colder than your plants are used to. Time to make a plan for protecting them from frost and freeze. See today’s Teaching Thursday for our winter protection tips.
If you have houseplants outside on a porch or balcony, they’ll need to be brought inside as well and you might enjoy today’s Kerby’s Houseplant Shop newsletter with some tips for keeping houseplants happy through the winter.
But that’s enough talk about cold. I want to talk about the perfect time of year, when it is warm and comfortable and getting outside in the garden is the only thing you want to do. Yup, here at Kerby’s we are ready for Spring. There is lots of fun planned this season, and we’ll kick it off with our very first make-and-take workshop on February 12th at 10 am. Come learn all about making fresh flower arrangements, and then try your hand at making something beautiful for your sweetheart. You’ll leave with a beautiful arrangement that you made yourself. Tickets can be purchased here, and it is limited to the first 20 registrants.
We’ll follow that up on February 19th with our Spring Veggie Gardening seminar, and then on the 26th we’ll have our New to Florida Gardening seminar. And then, mark your calendars for a day of gardening fun. On March 5th, we’re having our Spring Fling celebration. Not only is it our 42nd birthday, but at 9 am, we’ll have an official ribbon cutting and grand opening of the new Farmhouse. After that we’ll have workshops on the hour throughout the day, hourly gift card giveaways, and a food truck serving up tasty treats for lunch. Spring in Florida is something worth celebrating, so come join us to make it your best year in the garden.
