One week later: Does this look like Spring to you?

– Posted in: Miscellaneous
9 comments

Siberian_squillsIt took a mere seven days to shed that foot of snow and get back to our regularly scheduled program.Daffodils galore!Snow in April is really a joke. There is no way it can win, though it can cause damage.Tete a tete and multiflora hyacinthsAnd it has been instrumental in teaching this gardener patience and perseverance. If I knew the Latin for “Just wait till next year!” it would probably become my motto. Carol at May Dreams Gardens says that the budding of the peonies is her signal to hurry up and get those spring chores done.Peonies sproutingMy peonies are barely out of the ground, and already I’m starting to hyperventilate. Too much of May is already committed to other obligations, and inclement weather will take some of the rest. (It is a gardening corollary to Murphy’s law, that there will be great gardening weather when you can’t be gardening.)

The garden may have taught me a bit of patience, but it hasn’t helped me learn much about contentment. There is always more to be done; I never manage to cross out all the items on my must-do list. I still haven’t figured out if it is a cry of defiance or anticipation: Just wait till next year!

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.

~Adrian Higgins in The Washington Post, November 6, 2013

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Ki April 25, 2007, 8:15 pm

Looks like your plants are making up for the lost time. Very beautiful and bountiful.

Marc @ GardenDesk April 25, 2007, 4:59 pm

Wow, those pictures definately look better than the photo from a week ago!

don’t get discouraged about not getting enough done in the garden. It looks like you have a lot of beauty already in your garden and you just now got rid of the snow!

I’m impressed.

Annie in Austin April 25, 2007, 12:12 am

This blogger-spring is really cool – there seems to be an endless supply of Scilla!

Happy April, Kathy! What lovely little points the peony leaves make!

Annie

Carol April 24, 2007, 9:33 pm

Kathy… I’m hyperventilating every day… I, have a week of vacation coming up to work in the garden, but it will be a wild, hectic week. I hope it doesn’t rain, it can’t rain! Your flowers are beautiful. They beat that ol’ April snow!

Oldroses April 24, 2007, 6:40 pm

I won’t be hyperventilating until after the first week in May. That’s when I take my annual “spring gardening” vacation. Since I can’t afford to go away anywhere, I use my vacation time to work in my gardens, one week in May and the other in October. Of course, I never finish all of my projects. I agree: Just wait til next year!

Kathy Purdy April 24, 2007, 6:03 pm

Kelly–thank you for speaking up and stopping by.

kelly April 24, 2007, 3:15 pm

gorgeous photos, and yes, it looks like spring. It’s so true that it’s the gardener’s lament having good weather and no time to be out there in it. I’m working a full-time job for the first time in a few years and it’s really cramping my garden style.

I’ve been quietly enjoying your blog for some time…

entangled April 24, 2007, 2:04 pm

Ah, early spring all over again – more scillas even if mine are gone! There’s never enough time….

Pam/Digging April 24, 2007, 1:37 pm

We’ve had great gardening weather for months, and I still haven’t gotten my fence painted. Argh!