The Month of In and Out - for the love of a plant

A few of the April in-and-out plants

Everything in the garden is early this year, jump-started into growth by that mad March heat wave; but West Michigan is not typically safe from frost until the middle of May. I over-winter some outdoor plants in my sun room and basement. Some of the geraniums that were brown-bagged are doing well. I also saved my daughter's two Boston ferns--one up and one down. They are a little shabby, but alive and ready for a new season outdoors.

 I am also starting some of  the saved dahlia bulbs in pots. I don't have a greenhouse--only a sun room, which is getting very crowded. The leftover Easter Lily from church is finishing its last bloom but may not be hardy enough to put in the ground yet. On a nice day when I have the time, many things are moved out on the deck--and then when a frost warning is issued, they are covered with a sheet or come back in for the night, inelegantly spread out on black trash bags.

Thus April becomes the month of IN and OUT. I can't wait for May so that I can clear the clutter! Every year I say I will save less, and then I can't bear to see all the beautiful things die with the first fall frost.

I have given away only one of my saved and restored geraniums so far and have prematurely planted some dahlia bulbs in a half-whisky barrel planter. I will have to cover them if they emerge and a frost is predicted. One pot of dahlias which I forgot about on the deck one night got singed with brown a few nights ago when the temperatures reportedly dipped to 32 degrees--I was not up to see the frost. The sun had burned it all away by the time I emerged.

The ten-day forecast predicts two nights of possible 32 degree lows and one night of 31. That's close--most things will be okay but I will have to take the cannas and ferns and dahlias and geraniums in.

If I only had a greenhouse--even a cheap thing with clear plastic walls, then I could stop this insane IN and OUT ritual.