Despite the sketchy weather
with so much rain and some very cold winds, my flowerbeds are filling up with
blossoms of all varieties. When I hear the howling wind during the night I
worry that all will be smashed to smithereens by morning. But invariably
despite their stresses and strains they survive the onslaught and live to open
their many buds every day. And invariably I drool over the rebirth of life
around here, both animal and floral. Spring has sprung and summer is around the
next bend and with it I’m praying for sunnier days and warmer weather so
everything can reach its potential. Just like us, these lovely flowers need the
right conditions to do their best although they can make it through marginal
years. Although I clean up the messy ones that just can’t get over being so wet
for days on end, I also notice the ones with forbearance and good bones that
overcome the same conditions more easily and bounce back quickly.
That said, I love walking
through each path to see all the minute changes that occur from day to day and
moment to moment. There is such joy for me to visually harvest these specimens
that I work so hard to preen during the year.
Having a working garden is
like having any other type of work. If you love what you do it becomes a labor
of love and little successes and grand victories are everywhere you look.
Here’s a few shots of the roses that can’t open fast enough and have such a
variation in their coloring as they mature and finally fade away. These make me
tear up with appreciation. Despite their delicacy they evoke such profound
sentiments in my heart of hearts. At this time of year there’s such a profusion
of color and texture and various heights, widths, not to mention form, and from
the tiniest daisies that grow in the lawns to the noblest trees that grace the
perimeters, I feel rather overjoyed just being amongst this slice of nature’s
fecundity. It’s such a relief from the starkly barren landscape that lasts for
months through frigid and dark winters that seem to go on forever. These days I
feel renewed and regenerated to conquer anything that’s in my path that might
keep me stuck, and keep me from going forward into bliss. Here, in this
splendor, I’m like a kid in a candy store.
Yum.