Another plan bites the dust.  I was going to try ordering native tree and shrub bare roots and plugs from reputable native growers to be shipped here.  But it seems FedEx, their main shipping service, has been careless and unreliable with handling plant shipments, especially during the pandemic.  So I’d risk losing an expensive minimum order, either before or after delivery.  I still don’t feel safe personally picking up nonessential orders anywhere local, even with supposed COVID compliance.  So much for that idea.  Back to being doggedly patient/resigned.

That’s nothing of course compared to what Texas and much of the country are suffering in these monster arctic storms, power outages, water shortages, and related hardships and deaths.  As usual, Republican politics and negligence were involved.  They’d rather people be endangered and die, than allow the government to address inadequate infrastructure and climate change or provide relief.  These record wintry disasters are also delaying the vaccine rollouts and impacting hospitals.  So much misery persists, especially after four years of deliberate dereliction and ineptitude.  I’m just relieved that saner minds are now on the job.

But all is not lost!  E. TN has (so far) avoided the worst of the icy blasts.  Seedlings are coming up indoors and out.  Here are artichoke seedlings in my “nursery”, and daffodil shoots (and red mustard) defying the cold.  Some good changes can’t be inhibited.