Last column I smugly mentioned that we were finally done with freezing and it was safe to start setting out the tenders. How wrong I was. A week ago Wednesday night/Thursday morning it got down to 29 degrees in my vegetable garden. I vaulted out of my cozy bed at the break of dawn to sprinkle plants with water. If you water them before the sun hits the frozen leaves, some can be saved. Naturally, I could not get the hose to work — too cold — so it was watering can in the old rain barrel trick. I lost the marigolds and some nicotiana but saved most.

Then, to further add insult, the rain of biblical proportions on Saturday stripped the just started blossoms from the crabapple. Weather simply refuses to bend to my will.

My worker, Jake, made an interesting discovery in the asparagus patch. While searching for some asparagus he saw a spent stalk from last year. A perfectly white spear was growing right in the hollow stem. He promptly ate it and declared it the sweetest he’s ever tasted.

In a matter of days, the peonies are about to open. Just slightly ahead of them are the orange annual poppies. Mine have spread everywhere but, sadly, they last in bloom for just a few days. They are earlier and certainly not as spectacular as the Orientals.

I could make a list of my most hated weeds starting with mugwort. This year the spitting cress is vying for top honors. We’ve had it in both eyes and nostrils. Oh, how I wish I weeded before it went to seed. As if!

My friend, Phyllis, called to report a patch of hogweed past the Scottish Bakehouse. I’ve noticed it on the Cedar Tree Neck Road. Not learning to recognize it is to your peril. Like rue, some euphorbias and angelica, it is a photo toxin. In the heat of a sunny day, just touching it will give a chemical burn that will make you long for poison ivy.

If I was asked to rewrite Dante’s Inferno, one of the layers of hell would be forced to listen to leaf blowers endlessly. Recently, while quietly weeding, a landscape crew showed up at the property next door. They literally blew the woods for four hours. None of the young men wore eye or ear protection and only one had a mask.

Speaking of masks, how did a medical protection against a deadly virus turn into such a cultural fight. Brit Hume of Fox News tweeted a photo of Joe and Jill Biden wearing masks at a Memorial Day wreath laying ceremony. He called them ridiculous-looking. I might add it was the fifth anniversary of son Beau’s death and he was a military veteran.

Donald Trump has given his followers permission to behave badly even during a global pandemic citing personal freedom. Those who refuse to cover their faces should get some T-shirts made up which read: ‘I Don’t Care About You.”