The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

BEV WIELER

April showers have brought May flowers and I can hardly wait for blooms that fill out the rest of May and lead us into June and summer in the garden.

There was a little set back recently with frost warnings for the morning of May 11.

While the spring planting of impatients, geraniums and a variety of petunias has been underway in my rural West Point garden, Mother Nature sent a reminder to put the brakes on. It was full speed on the eve of May 10 as boxes, empty flower pots and blankets were draped over any annual planting that couldn’t be brought into the garage.

Hubby and I were scurrying about like we were expecting a swarm of locust threatening to destroy our precious garden plantings.

I don’t know any gardeners who haven’t encountered the dreaded frost threat. We were spared the crispy frost and when morning came the blankets, boxes and pots were gathered and stored as we continue into the freshness of May in the garden.

The week before the frost threat we were up early as we boarded a Flower Power Bus headed for a delightful day of plant shopping at Johansen’s Greenhouse at Norfolk, Sheila’s Country Gardens at Hartington, Diane’s Greenhouse at Fordyce and back to Shamrock Nursery at Norfolk. Yes, I was born to travel to garden centers. Give me a bus, a driver and a storage area for filling with boxes and boxes of flowers. Oh what a happy day! Just remember to throw some cash into your pocket.

The tour coordinator treated us with snacks and drinks along the way, instructing us to time allowed at each stop. We even had a catered lunch at NIssen Wines at Hartington and were entertained with stories of the bandits the wines were named after.

Friendships were renewed from previous bus trips, new stories shared and photos were snapped of the luggage area spilling over with blooming plants.

Central Community College coordinated the event. If your would like to be on their mailing list for the upcoming year, contact the college in Columbus.

The Flower Power Bus travels to a new area each year. Which means new garden centers, meeting gardening friends and filling your own garden with beautiful, hardy plants.

The tour guides personally visit each garden center before the tour insuring a well planned day of fun.

The trip also gives you something to think about as your pull the pesky weeds that no matter how hard you work, always return to your garden.

I hope your garden time includes a lot of beautiful flower plants and great garden thoughts. Just maybe your gardening day dreams will include a bus filled with flowers parked outside your kitchen window.