Earlier years

Tonight, we have as our guest me from six years ago, my freshman year. In my first few years of college I was very motivated and interested in my major, horticulture. At home I had a flourishing garden. I even worked on making my own hybrids. When I was young my dad would talk from time to time about his mother's orange tree. You see, my grandmother went through great trouble to have an orange tree in her yard. Every winter she covered the tree to protect it from frosts and freezes. During my first few years of college I had several citrus trees, perhaps in tribute to her. At the maximum extent I had six trees, but now only one survives. Tonight I found something I wrote on 30 November 2003 about frosts:

It is now 3:33 am, and I'm still awake. I'm wearing some warm socks and leather sandals on my feet. I've been outside for the past 30 minutes. Tonight is the first major frost in my area--it has been here for three hours now. The grass was crunchy and my cheeks were numb and red, but I walked toward the shed with a little yellow flashlight. I saw my lemon balm. I rubbed my fingers on one of those cold, lifeless leaves and the frost melted away, leaving a dead, wilted mess of chlorophyll. There was a bowl of water that had frozen over on my wooden wall. I opened the shed to see the citrus trees, my children. I heard a noise outside the shed but it must have been the wind. It was cold and dark, and the earth seemed dead. I have a white bucket of water in the shed; if the water begins to freeze, I know it's too cold in the shed. I dipped my finger in it and it was cold, but not frozen. The key lime tree, being the most vulnerable of the bunch, was the first tree I observed. It seemed to be just fine, so I was rested assure. I walked back outside gazing at the glimmering crystals glitter my yard. The plants were healthy-looking, but it's an illusion. Tomorrow the sun will melt the frost and it will all be dead.

I'm surprised to see how upset I was about that frost. I was obviously much more sensitive about things back then. Here are some photos from those times:

(Here I am working in my garden with my dog Yoshi)

(A garden path I created, with impatiens on one side and coleus on the other, lined with liriope)

(These are tulips I grew in a raised bed. This is the cultivar 'Purissima')