Sunday night's weather forecast sent me and other gardeners scrambling to cover up tomato, pepper and eggplant that we set out earlier thinking that we had seen the last of the below 40-degree night temperatures. Ha!

So confident had I been that wire cages had already been put in place along with their anchoring stakes to hold them in place against the strong southerly late spring winds. With a heavy heart I tore down those secure 6-foot-tall cages in order to shelter the young plants from the cold night air. The plants were already 18 inches tall and about that wide so nothing short of a bushel basket or trash can was large enough to press into service; the place looked like a dump site when I finished that evening. This morning after uncovering them all the plants looked perky and healthy, even the small okra plants.

One plant, a chartreuse sweet potato was forgotten in the rush to take the potted plants indoors. One hanging basket was forgotten, left hanging from a branch of the apple tree during the chilly night. Next morning it was huddled into itself and appeared almost half its size of the day before. The plant totally revived and regained its vigor and size once it had a couple of hours of warm morning sun. Although most plants will recover from a brief chill of 45 degrees F., in the long run they are more productive if brought in or covered against the chilling air.

Keep an eye out for plant pests, in my garden there seem to be several species of sap suckers and/or leaf eaters for every rose bush, asparagus stalk and onion. One such pest, thrips leave evidence of their presence, stippled leaves of gray scar tissue and black droppings. For years I've wondered what this small thug looked like; a couple of days ago I found a thrip sucking out the color from a red rose bud. I thought I knew what it was so I verified his picture in "Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs," by Whitney Cranshaw.

According to Cranshaw, thrips are minute insects of the order name Thysanoptera which means "fringe wing," a reference to the unusual highly fringed four wings adult thrips usually possess. They also "possess unusual mouthparts with a single mandible that functions as a spike to puncture the leaf surface and a pair of finer stylets (maxillae) that penetrate interior cells." They suck out the leaf fluids typically leaving a silver scar.

Observing the thrip I caught closely I observed a cream colored triangle inside a crest-shaped darker brown than the rest of the long one-fourth-inch skinny insect. The light brown abdominal section has a similar dark brown triangle and crest. While I was examining the thrip I learned that his fringed wings aren't just decorative. He flew to the Venetian blinds and tried to hide behind one in vain, but was captured again. A minute ago when I went for coffee, I noticed two baby thrips on the rosebud. What will tomorrow bring?

For such a tiny insect it can cause serious damage to bean leaves which look all folded and crumbled with off-color shades of browns and reds. The same insect on onions leaves the leaves with white and silver streaks, slowing their growth immensely.

Another insect that's running rampant lately in the garden is the one-16th inch long sleek light green potato leaf-hopper, another bug family that sucks the fluid from potatoes, alfalfa, mustard, eggplant (if I'm right about the hopper variety) and many more cultivated crops. There are so many species of leafhoppers that I can't really tell which one/ones give me grief each summer, possibly it's the potato leafhopper that attacks many other plants than potatoes.

For you folks new to horticulture, don't think that all insects are bad. Most gardeners that I know don't want to kill their butterfly larvae so they grow extra fennel and dill to share with the swallowtail larvae. You'll notice that these striped caterpillars which are nearing pupae stage are large and easily recognized. I took the photo accompanying this column of two black swallowtail larvae eating fennel in my garden. Some years the adults lay eggs on parsley, other years they choose fennel.

Upcoming events

Wild Things Nursery will be at the Farm Market Saturday and May 19 only. Marilyn and Gary carry plants to attract butterflies.

Bird Migration Day will be celebrated at Lake Thunderbird State Park's new nature center May 10. The day's schedule: 9 a.m. Bird walk led by Warren Harden; 10:15 a.m., "Some Interesting Things about Birds," Warren Harden, ages 7 to adult; 11:15 a.m. "Birds of Central Oklahoma," Matthew Vandenbroeke, ages 7 to adult; noon, Tour the new Nature Center with the naturalist. Bring a picnic lunch; 1 p.m.: "Birds for Kids." Information and activities about birds for children ages 2 to 6. For more details and directions call Kathy Furneaux at 321-4633 or e-mail crowssecret@sbcglobal.net.

Betty Culpepper may be reached at bculpepper2@cox.net for comments, questions or ideas for future columns.