Sidney Sheldon Stokes Guides Thoughts For Food Spring in Deborah Knott's Colleton County by Margaret Maron Spring comes early to east central North Carolina. Sometimes it comes too early. This year, the buds on the plum trees and lilacs began swelling before February ended. The red camellias my mother planted around the homeplace opened their first waxy petals in January and were nearly finished by March, but her forsythia and spirea are blooming their hearts out. This past week has been mild and sunny with clear blue skies and light winds out of the southwest.
Spring peepers are loud in the bottoms.
I tell the blueberry bushes I've set out along my driveway. Happy as I am to see spring flush the brown landscape with pinks and whites and greens, it's not unusual to get another killing frost between now and mid-April before the tender blossoms can set their fruit. Dogwoods will be all right, though. The tight flower buds that appeared last fall are now starting to uncurl, but frost never really hurts them. The flowering judas and lilacs don't seem to mind a little frost either, but it'll be touch and go with early plums, apples, pears, and scuppernong grapes.