Spring is FINALLY here. Hallelujah! I loooooove spring. I have always loved seeing the new growth and life that accompanies this season and although I had never identified with a favorite season before owning a home, I’m ready to declare it now that I do! My favorite season is SPRING! Glorious, resplendent, uplifting, exciting spring! I have been so in awe this year of the daffodils and crocuses poking up from the ground towards the end of this past winter. It reminds me of the Wordsworth poem “Daffodils” that I read in college. The yellow of the daffodils seems so much more vibrant than in past years, perhaps because this past winter, Connecticut was characterized by mostly brown, beige, tawny, and more brown. Ugh. We had barely a snowstorm (not including the October freakshow to cover the landscape and everything just looked so dishearteningly ugly for months on end.
But thank goodness that is behind us. I am SO ready to move on to my favorite season. Each morning before work, I take a quick walk around my humble gardens and delight in the tiny, dazzling dew drops perched on the green shoots that will bring such beautiful color to my surroundings. I check out the buds on the trees and gauge their growth from one day to the next. The anticipation of such small natural miracles tells me I will be a “gardener” for life. I can’t get enough of the changes that happen in my yard, year after year.
For me, spring awakening equates to my turning into a giddy schoolgirl tugging on my husband’s sleeve to show him the latest centimeter of growth from my lilies, or the buds of the magnolia tree starting to shed their outer layer of winter protection. Matt, being the stellar husband he is, yields to my request. He walks around with me as I show him my newest botanical discoveries, nodding often and generally going along with whatever I say before sneaking off to his mancave to do more manly things.
The Northeast is currently experiencing a summer-like start to spring with balmy temperatures near 80 degrees. I know when I get back from vacation, (currently writing from Denver, CO) my perennials will be twice as big as they were before I left. Although I’m having a blast visiting with my sisters out here in Colorado, I can’t help but feel a tinge of homesickness… a longing to be at home tidying up the yard and cleaning up the gardens. I know, I know… something is wrong when I want to do yard laps (no, seriously, I walk laps around the yard… do I seem like a weirdo yet?!) instead of lay out by a rooftop pool with no agenda! Don’t worry, I plan on heading up to the pool later today. I’ll also post some highlights of my trip out West!
But back on topic… Weeks after closing on the house, my parents came up to take me out to some area garden centers and purchased a bunch of perennial plants that I have cared for dutifully. We dug in (pun intended) and that was the start to our never-ending garden enhancement project (the previous owners of our house did zilch in the landscape department) and continue to enthusiastically design and create more and more each year. I have an idea of how I want the end project to look but realize Rome wasn’t built in a day, and relish in my small garden miracles as it will take years and years to create the mature landscaping oasis of my dreams.
I hope you all are enjoying the vibrance that accompanies this time of a year with a normal sense of excitement. (Lord knows my shrieking at a bud shedding some skin is a bit bonkers.) The warm air… the birds chirping… the extra spring in your step… breathe it in slowly and stop to admire nature’s tiny miracles, because winter always seems to come too soon.
What excites you most about spring? Are you planning any landscaping changes this season? Do you feel homesick even while having a blast on vacation? Tell me what signs of spring you’re seeing around your ‘hood!