There were literally hundreds of Marigold flowers in bloom on our deck on Monday. Tuesday morning (10-17), we had an early, record setting, hard freeze of 21 degrees. Wednesday morning, we had another hard freeze around 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Today, Thursday, the outdoors temperature then got up to 76 degrees; with a low of only 50 degrees expected tonight. It's supposed to be 85 degrees tomorrow and feel like Summertime again.

However, the damage has been done. The marigold plants have all frozen to death. Unlike I had hoped, they have absolutely no chance of recovery; not even with the weather warming up again. In between all the other brown, lifeless bloom heads, there are a few that still look like this. Distressed but still with color. However, the leaves and everything else on those plants are brown and shriveled up. Although a handful of flowers show some sign of life, the plants themselves are totally dead. Dead, dead, dead. Period.

The end of a growing season is so sad. Without such a hard freeze, I've had marigolds in previous years survive until near the end of November. Not so this year. The growing season definitely is now over.