SAFE NATURAL CURES & LIVING

The ancient Minoans had grand kings for leaders, and the people had total faith in them. Minoan kings were held as gods who could protect them from everything, including nature’s fury. That is, until a huge volcanic eruption made it obvious to the survivors that human kings were as powerless as themselves.

The people chose to worship and trust in a god instead – two gods might give them even more protection. They erected statues to honor the gods. And, for good measure, they made sacrifices. Human sacrifices. Can you imagine, they sacrificed their own children so that they themselves could have a nicer life.

Can you imagine?! You don’t have to work very hard today to imagine it. Many have gone back to worshipping the gods of their own making. The god of choice could be money, prestige, or fame. And, many today sacrifice their own children just so that they themselves can have a nicer life. Too many of today’s children are given up to nannies, babysitters, and daycare centers full time – some, much more than full time. All this so Dad can have the fanciest cars and Mom can have the biggest house, or so that either can have the most admiration from their peers.

We no longer kill our children physically. We instead kill their spirit, and the relationship we could have shared with them. You can have the mansion, I’ll take the modest house. Yours will be full of expensive furniture, and mine will be full of hugs and kisses – and secrets of the day that only a real family can share.

Shipping season was long over for daylilies due to the coming winter frosts.  Even Southern California is not immune to the occasional dip to 30 or even 28 degrees, so shipping was not scheduled to resume until March.

Ask and you just might receive.

The grower was obliging, even envious, when told that the daylilies would be planted within walking distance of the ocean.  Coastal frost is extremely rare.  The live plants arrived in time for Christmas.  To the credit of the grower, the daylilies were also the largest we’d ever received.  Still, fingers were crossed and weather reports were checked daily.

But, Murphy’s law struck. 

It has snowed locally twice in recorded history, and there is a frost or two in the memories of some old folks.  But there it was — in print — frost was expected for two nights.  Along with the awful idea of being thought a liar came the desire to not cause the grower to disallow exceptions for anyone ever again.  Not to mention missing out on the beautiful flowers that were expected and being out a lot of money; these daylilies were prize winners and were priced as such. 

After researching books and the internet, protection for the daylily “nursery” was found to be simple and inexpensive.  Only two things were needed:  extra water and a thick layer of bark.  Watering before a frost increases the temperature of the soil, and bark mulch keeps heat in the soil.
 
The plants seemed not to have suffered from the frost, but only time would tell.  And tell it did.  The new plants bloomed in the middle of May — with blooms so large that they almost broke the tender little stems.  Some of the older plants had been in the ground for two years without their first bloom, so these new ones did live up to their reputations.  So did the grower that took a chance. 

If you have a special circumstance, let the grower know.  You just might find that rules are not always written in stone.