Now this is Winter....

.... sunny and warm and right up near 70 degrees. The weather gods are once again being kind to the state of Texas.

I walked around the yard and looked at the flowerbeds this afternoon.... some of the plants look frozen in their places out there. The gardenia plant may be history, as well as some of the azaleas, and the violet plants look like cooked spinach. The freezing nights in December were not what those plants were expecting.

Last Spring, we re-mulched all the flowerbeds around the house.... they looked beautiful with the fresh mulch and new plants. However, the only reason they stayed alive throughout the blazing hot summer is because I was out there watering the plants twice a day.  I told my husband that I felt "married to the flowerbeds" last year.  Not going to happen again.  What an insult... to keep those plants alive all summer long, only to have them frozen in place in December.  Fool me once.... (as that saying goes).

This year, whatever plants that didn't make it through the frigid temperatures are not going to be replaced. I don't want to spend the coming summer months watering my heart out and trying to keep plants alive that will either have their leaves eaten by the deer at night in July and August, or get frostbitten by hard-freeze temperatures when December comes around again.

This is exactly why Texas gardeners love cactus plants...... you put them into the ground and you forget them.  No watering, no pruning, no pampering.  And cactus plants can give you beautiful blooms of pink, white, and yellow flowers.   My husband hates cactus.  I'm not exactly crazy about them either, but at least I wouldn't be out there with the garden hose twice a day all summer long.

I know this one thing for sure:  this Texas gardener is tossing in her gloves and her bags of mulch. I quit. I give up. I no longer want to grow plants and fight the summer heat only to be shot down by the winter wind. (That's a really good line for a country/western song.)