It’s Spring! No, It’s Summer

It could be said, and probably is by people who move from the east coast to the west, that California does not have four identifiable seasons.  My brain is still in Spring, and in fact the calendar tells me that summer doesn’t start for another week, but we’ve had so many 90 degree days lately that I’m being forced to admit it is summer. It appears that in southern California at least we went from winter directly into summer, did not collect $200, and did not warn my plants.

I am struggling to keep my container garden alive. Most mornings I’m out on the front patio at sunrise with either the hose or a watering can, trying to catch the tomato plants before they turn brown, stripping burnt leaves from the camellias, deadheading the lantana and geraniums, and refreshing the limp herbs. Perennial sage, rosemary, mint, thyme and oregano are thriving this year, as long as I keep them moist. No annual herbs like basil, cilantro or tarragon because it’s simply been too hot.

This week I’ve been trimming the plants in preparation for my long-awaited Viking cruise on the Danube and week-long train-hop around eastern Europe.  Kind neighbors have agreed to check in and water my plants, but I can’t expect anyone to do so daily at sunrise. I’m saying prayers for the anemones and ranunculus hiding under the patio chairs and in shady spots beside their larger neighbors. It was spring when my grandchildren planted them, but southern California spring this year masqueraded as summer. See first paragraph. I fear they will not survive my three-week absence.

My writing journey often seems to mirror my gardening.  In the winter I read seed catalogs and dream of spring flowers. During those cooler months, even in SoCal, I am at my keyboard by 6:45a.m., checking in with my writing buddies on a Meetup Zoom screen, and I am often still writing at noon and beyond. Ideas flow freely, and I have lots of energy.  This year I pushed myself to write long hours every day and rewarded myself with a The End on the first draft of my cozy mystery. On those cool days I spend afternoons with my grandchildren, often in the garden or on the back patio, sewing seeds in little boxes and bulbs in dozens of pots.

I haven’t felt particularly creative since the temperature soared, and my writing, or lack of it, shows it.

Writing in the Margins

But I’m learning to go with the flow. I accept the reality of gardening in containers and in the heat. I’ve also initiated some new writing projects, like a children’s story and an introductory chapter to a second cozy mystery.

And thanks to a visit from an old friend, I’ve also been sketching and painting in water colors.

I packed a new journal in my backpack, and uploaded Word to my iPad. If inspiration strikes while I’m on the Danube or in a train, I’m ready. And if I return home to find that some of my plants did not survive my journey, well, there are lots more plants at the Garden Center.

How are you responding to the weather in your part of the world? Has it been unpredictable this year, and if it has, how are you coping?

Marlene

Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.   Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will be out soon, and she’s working on an update to The Book of Whole Grains while also crafting a cozy mystery, Death on a Sunny Afternoon – a Harriet Palmer Mystery.