Well it was cold. Météo France had a little article saying that it was the coldest May temperatures for forty years. I don’t know about that. However my maximum/minimum thermometer in the depths of the barn showed -1 degrees.
What I know is that emerging oak leaves are shrivelled, some of my lilies have collapsed. My chestnut tree’s just expanding new leaves have had it. Ditto my figs. Potatoes that were under the strewn hay were still frosted – but thankfully not badly. My Caramel tree gave off its inimitable toffee scent that let me know that it had been got! New growth on various Camellias is blackened. But the garden has experienced worse. And it will recover. Especially as since the frosts there has been gentle, persistent rain. If the sun remembers to come out tomorrow and warm everything up this will have been a minor blip!
And it was not as bad as I’d feared, and some things – because of the seemingly late season, were not affected at all.