Christmas lights and spring flowering bulbs

Winter came again to Kansas City and all at once. Some of us just weren't ready---me, for one, and this poor scabiosa who was caught blooming unaware.

Frankly, I don't know how it was still producing viable blooms. We've had several nights of freezing temps---dipping down as low as 18---but I guess our mild days kept it encouraged. This Wednesday our forecast calls for temps in the upper 50's. No wonder some of my hardier plantings are confused. And talk about confusion, this past weekend I walked into my local Ace hardware store in search of a 50 count string of green twinkle lights and ran smack into a display of spring flowering bulbs! (What were they still doing on the shelf?)

Needless to say, my husband, who'd been abandoned before we ever reached the Christmas section, found me sorting through little cardboard bins of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinth bulbs, twinkle lights all but forgotten. "I should have known," was the first thing he said, a familiar form of greeting between us when my gardening obsession derails me from my intended path. Then he asked, "Will these be okay to plant now?" At 90% off the original price, I assured him it was worth taking a chance. When will I ever again get the opportunity to buy Mount Everest Allium bulbs for roughly 30 cents each? And, if they do make it, how great will they look scattered throughout the gardens? Awesome!

Later, dressed in sixteen layers of clothing, I tottered out to the gazebo and helped string lights along its rails and posts while the north wind stabbed the exposed skin of my face with ice pellets. That's when I noticed my scabiosa, the same plant I bought half dead in the late summer from a local nursery for 75% off. Once I put it in the ground, it flourished. Hopefully, this coming spring, I'll be able to post a picture of giant snowballs sprouting from a warm sun drenched garden bed.