The sense of smell is amazingly underrated. An aroma can bring pleasure or alert you to danger. You can sniff out the truth. My absolute favorite is that scent created by a summer rainstorm drenching the pavement and soil on a warm day. There’s even a word for it – petrichor.

When the weather finally breaks, and plants begin to emerge from dormancy, it’s understandable that we are eager to greet every new shoot and admire every swelling bud. But, we can also be quick to pass judgment on the viability of our plants. Sometimes, too quick.

The roller coaster temperatures have had gardeners vacillating between the urge to get tomatoes in the ground and the scramble to dig up floating row covers from the back of the garage.

It seems miraculous that we didn’t wake up on Sunday morning to find all of those tender shoots and blossoms completely frozen. The experience proved to me that some of the most delicate looking plants in the garden can be the most tenacious. These are our precious spring ephemerals.

No matter how long the winter actually is, it always takes forever to end and now that it seems spring has finally sprung, gardeners will be making their lists and checking them twice. Since the outdoor chores that must be done conflict with more pleasurable activities, it may be hard to know where to start.