We have reached a verdict!

So after some research, and a little counseling, I have decided that Scruffy underwent some major frost damage.  It froze Tuesday night, which was a little unexpected.  I thought Scruffy had sufficient sleepy-time protection from the cold, but it would seem that his cozy little box house was a bit on the drafty side.  Maybe I should have called it his drafty little box house.

But what is a novice garden blog without a little tragedy?  I ask you!

When I got up this morning, Scruffy looked like this:

I read on the internet (which I hear is the most reliable source of legitimate know-how) that when frost damage occurs, one is supposed to removed the damaged leaves and stems so that the plant can focus its energy on growing new, healthy stuff.  So, now Scruffy looks like this:

Cue tumbleweed.

Wow, look at all those dandelion seeds!  This lady must have kids...  Anyway, needless to say, pretty much all of Scruffy's leaves were damaged.  There were a couple of tiny new ones that looked so-so rather than horrendous, so I left those on.  It seemed like the right thing to do.  But what do I know?

Scruffy was feeling pretty bad about himself over this whole affair, so I decided to cheer him up by making him look like a giant tree.

Scruffy's good side.  Work it, Scruffy!  BTW, the tips of the leaves are not really black.  I toned down the brightness and increased the contrast.  Yes.  I Photoshop my pictures.  But you would too with a crappy camera like mine!

One of my flowers decided the garden needed some perking up, what with all the drama over the last twenty-four hours.  What a pick-me-up!  Way to remind me that life goes on and whatnot.  Thanks, Petunia.  And such a lovely color, too!  In my experience, the really crappy looking flowers on the clearance racks always turn out the prettiest.  This one looked pretty sad to begin with.  To underscore my point, I spent almost two and a half bucks on a really beautiful, vibrant snapdragon.  I swear it was the perkiest flower in the whole place.  Now it's dead.  But my pathetic discount flowers are in great shape--even the one I almost drowned by planting it in a really dumb place!

If I were smart, I'd do something about that dandelion seed... but I prefer to spend my afternoon hours cultivating muscle spasms in my back while weeding.  It's a good time, you should try it.

A quick update on McCrunchy.  He looks like this:

 

The end.