This is really lame.

I woke up this morning to a gray sky spitting snow flakes. The flurries didn't last long, but the cold settled in, breaking some sort of record, I imagine. Typically, Memphis doesn't see afternoons stay in the 30s in

mid-December.

I was excited about Sunday's cold weather (let's build a fire!) until I looked out my kitchen window and saw the dismal state of my vegetable



garden. I hadn't pulled up the plants, because a few stragglers still hung on the tomatoes, but the cold weather closed the book. Check out the ice near the roots of the cucumber plant. I guess this is the what's called a deep freeze.

Only one veggie survived the night cold: hot Thai peppers! So, feeling invigorated by the temperatures, I decided to finally pull up everything else. It was freezing, and I'm sure, yet again, my neighbors think I'm nuts.

Once it warms up a bit, I'll turn the soil and start layering in the ingredients for my spring lasagna. Can't wait!

Kings Park says goodbye to a real beauty.

It took 250 years to grow this grand dame, but only six hours to level her.

It was a sad day in my Kings Park neighborhood to watch the beautiful red

oak in Brooks Terry's yard come down, but believe me, he tried to save her. Brooks started worrying about the tree (which stood a few feet from his marvelous mid-century home on Tall Trees) when he noticed bees flying in and out of one of its cavities. He consulted two experts, who both confirmed that the tree was diseased.

The arborists estimated the tree's age at 250. (For the math challenged, that makes the tree older than the Declaration of Independence.)

"They said it might live two more years, but we though we should go ahead and get it down," Brooks said. "Even if it fell away from the house, the root ball is so big it would tear up the living room."

Once Brooks saw the tree's hollow trunks, he knew he'd made the right decision. "The tree was even sicker than we thought," he said. The

trunk also was lined with thousands of dead bees and spent honeycomb (pictured above in the first photo). Apparently, the same fungus that kills the tree eventually kills the bees too.

Happily, there is a bit of a nice ending to this story. Terry plans to salvage the impressive burl at the base of the tree, and he can still admire the red oak across the street, which is the oldest red oak in Shelby County.

My best buy.

I'm in Maryland taking care of my Mom, and the Whole Foods store in Annapolis is my go-to stop for almost everything, including these lovely tulips.

The display in the store is stunning, and the price of each bunch? Only $6.99. I'm not sure if the tulips are available in Whole

Foods stores everywhere (I suspect so), but trust me on this: You deserve a week's worth of elegance, and it only costs a dollar a day.

Pam+Anna+NYC= Love

When I started my blog, I swore I would never post anything that wasn't related - at least vaguely - to gardening. Lesson learned? Never say never.

No Lawn? Try This.

Let's be honest. Would you sit on a bench draped with a piece of sod? Even more nuts, would you decorate the sod with three voltaires and a vase of white roses?

I would not, which is probably why I'm not the owner of a charming Brooklyn florist called Graceful Gardens. The shop is located on Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg, not far from my daughter's apartment. I stopped in on a recent visit, and loved the shop, despite the sod bench tableau.

Question of the day.

Every year, this branch on one of my Japanese maples turns red before the rest of the tree. Can anyone tell me why?

An insider's tip.

If you are lucky enough to still have a few tomatoes left, don't wait too long to pick them. I've been assuming heat and drought (no rain in two months!) are causing these splits in my tomatoes, but my go-to guy Keith Forrester from Whitton Farms says no: The splits are caused by leaving tomatoes on the vine too long.

"We pick our tomatoes when they start to turn," Keith says.

Too much watering (guilty as charged) also contributes to the splits, because tomatoes turn water to juice. Gives "bursting with flavor" more meaning, don't you think?