The promise of Spring

Ahhhh Spring....

When I was younger, summer was my favourite season. Spring was just the hump to get over before the long, beautiful, fun filled lazy days of summer that seemed to last forever. There was a lot of rain, a lot of puddles, and you never knew what to wear in Spring, because temperatures varied so much from the morning to the afternoon.

As I get a bit older though, I am starting to appreciate Spring.

First of all, as I get older, I am enjoying winter less and less. Oh sure, the first snowfall is fun, and it's great to watch the kids try to catch snowflakes on their tongues, but the novelty soon wears off for me. In my perfect world, snow would arrive on Dec 24 and leave on Dec 26.

But it doesn't. Winter lasts a lot longer than 2 days around here.

When it finally ends, when Spring FINALLY arrives...

it's just so wonderful.

It makes people happier, slows them down, makes them appreciate their surroundings. People are friendlier, and there is a sense of excitement about what's to come in the next few months. Everything, and everyone, begins to "wake up"...you can actually feel it happening.

I enjoy Spring now because of my flowers. As soon as we got our own place, my grandma showed up with flowers. To plant. lots of them. We were renting a duplex at the time and just had a little strip out front with some bushes in it. My grandma showed up with bulbs, pots, peat moss, perennials, annuals...and various tools I would need...for this tiny strip of dirt. She is the gardening guru, my grandma is, and I trust her completely when it comes to this "stuff".

So, through various lessons, both in person and over the phone, we got our little dirt strip looking pretty good.

Then we bought a house. With a front yard and a back yard. Big, green, open spaces, with little to no landscaping at all. A blank slate.

Well.

I could see the wheels turning the first time she came up to check the place out. She was planning. And over the few years we have been here she has given me plant after plant after plant; cuttings from her own plants at home, or found at sales that she thought would look good, or plants she wanted me to try here, as she was trying them at her home. The lessons have continued, a lot in person and a lot over the phone. Each time she comes to visit the firstthings he does is "make her rounds"...checking out each individual plant, and always managing to find at least a few weeds to pull, even though I made sure to do the weeding before she arrived.

This why I have come to appreciate Spring. Because as the snow melts away and the warm weather begins, the flowers that connect me to my grandmother begin to reappear. They come slowly, growing a bit each day, bringing with them the promise of another wonderful summer. They aren't ready to show their full beauty yet, but you know its coming.

They teach you patience. They teach you that things that are worth waiting for take time. And that these things that are meaningful to you need to be cared for, every day. If you pull the weeds, make sure they get enough water, and be patient, you will be rewarded. gardening can be a physical workout, and can be therapuetic. It can be a real stress reliever. Gardening can teach you a lot about life.

Spring is about everything being new again. About rebirth and renewal. The promise of what's to come. Every day there is a new surprise. For a gardener, Spring is a very exciting time. You do the work, provide the care, and each day, there is something new out there to look forward to.

My grandmother has taken great care with her flowerbeds at her home over the years, and each time I visit, there is so much to see, even at this time of year. She has hundreds of different types of plants throughout her yard and knows the name of each one, and where she got it from. She tends to them each and every day. Just watering her flowerbeds takes her almost a full day outside. Weeding them is another full day. She puts herself on a very strict schedule, even planning time away from home based around how many days she can go without cutting her grass and caring for her flowers. She is meticulous. Watching her, and seeing the results she has created over the years, has inspired me.

But sometimes, even with the most careful planning, and planting, life can intervene. Sometimes a late frost can ruin months of anticipation. Sometimes, for reasons you can't explain or understand, it just doesn't "work". Sometimes, it works in ways you don't expect. Each fall, I have planted daffodil and tulip bulbs. I wait all winter, hoping to see these first flowers of spring. And every spring....nothing. I could never understand it, until now.

Sometimes, there are greater forces at work. It seems the squirrels love my flowers too. This spring, I have been surpised to find yellow tulips in the most random places...in the middle of my hydrangea bush...at the very back of my yard...and right in the middle of my yard, where they are guaranteed not to survive the busy feet of my children, or the first grass cutting of the season. The squirrels have dug up and replanted the bulbs, so this is now something to look forward to as well...where will they come up?

Sometimes, despite your careful planning, and best efforts, you just can't predict it or control it. Sometimes, what will be will be, and that's okay too. Again, gardening can teach you something about life.

My flowers, my magnolia tree, my hydrangea bushes, my black eyed susans, ground phlox, bleeding hearts, columbines...and so many more that I don't know the names of, remind me of my grandma, and the relationship we have. One of our favourite things to do together is visit a greenhouse, or a plant nursery,and just admire all there is. Each time we visit her home, she takes pride in walking with me all around her yard. Looking at and discussing all there is to see can easily take an hour or two. She loves to teach me, and I love to learn. There is such beauty in flowers, such possibility. I love the way my yard looks in the summertime, and everywhere I look, I am reminded of my grandma. About the care she has taken, the time she has taken, and of all she has taught me about gardening and flowers, and about life.

That's where the real beauty of Spring lies with me.

Each spring, as the flowers begin to appear, their pods almost bursting with what's inside, but just not quite ready to show themselves yet, signifies the beginning of another wonderful season of lessons, talks, laughter and learning, with Grandma.