It was not only I who thought we had a particularly long, cold and windy winter here in the North Carolina mountains. Our outdoor plants felt it too.  The tally of shrubs that turned into toast over the winter:

• 3 Nandina
• 3 Laurels
• 6 Rhododendrons
• 3 Roses
• 5 Scotch Brooms
• 3 Hollies
• 3 Pieris
• 1 Butterfly Bush

According to the USDA Plant Hardiness Map, this area is Zone 6b, meaning that I should ordinarily be safe choosing plants that can survive winter temps of 5 below zero.  Most of the plants sold locally are advertised as hardy to Zone 5 (-20F) but I find many that are only good for Zone 7 (+10F) or warmer.  I try to stick to Zone 4 and Zone 5 plants.

It was cold last winter, yes, but no way did our temperatures reach 5 below zero, let alone 20 below.  No matter — our lost plants acted like it did.  Winter winds at this 2800-foot elevation bite like a psychotic crab telling a Bill Maher joke with a lime in its mouth.

Spring was particularly slow to arrive here.  Most trees have just now finished leafing out, about two weeks later than normal.  Our hummingbirds, however, returned right on schedule the last week of April.  They flew up to the window where my wife usually puts the feeder, hovering to make sure we saw them.  Now that we are feeding them again, the hummers show their thanks by peeing on us as we sit on the deck, bless their little 1000-beat-per-minute hearts.

So now it is time to dig in and spread the eight cubic yards of mulch I ordered, to replace what was blown away in our spring cleanup or washed away (whatever wasn’t blown away) by the 5 inches of rain that fell in 5 hours on a Tuesday morning last week.  It will be me, my pitchfork, and my wheelbarrow, which I decided to name “Hauliver” after Oliver Wendell Douglas, my favorite character on my favorite show, “Green Acres.”  Fresh air.  The chores.

Goodbye, City Life!