Flowers of Yesteryear

                    In order to survive February, I  must have a flowers fix.

Although I do have a lovely African Violet blooming, what I need is a trip to my past gardens, via my photo books and digital files.

When I lived in the suburb, cut off from my nature trails, I made my yard into a flower garden of impressive scope. It inspires me now to see those lovely beds and plan to plant things I grew there.

The war with the grasses continues unabated up here. Some flowers are able to hold their own against the invasive roots, while others are less strong and quickly lose ground.

Now that there have been months of boring brown grass or snow, it is hard to believe I ever had any flowers here.


So it was helpful to find these pics of my granddaughter Carolyn holding flowers that actually bloomed and flourished in this place last August.

Even though the perennials seemed to vanish with the snows of yesteryear, they are just waiting to spring up, grow and be beautiful once again. The daffodils, tulips, surprise lilies, Asiatic Lilies,daylilies, hollyhocks, irises, Mexican Hats,  gaillardias, butterfly weeds, daisies, Missouri Primroses, Johnny Jump-Ups, peonies, spiderworts, bleeding hearts, poppies, dianthus, roses, yarrow, coneflowers, Siberian Irises, creeping phlox, hyacinths, hibiscus, weigelas, hydrangeas, spireas, forsythias and butterfly bushes will return in a blaze of glorious bloom.

They will all return "when spring brings back blue days and fair," as the poet said.

Just yesterday, when Lis and I were tearing down a rotten front porch railing with a huge crowbar (another fun Mother-Daughter project) I found a gold crocus in bloom! Pay no attention, I say, to the deep snow still on the north side of the house, gold has been discovered in the south side border. Eureka!

A Winter Reminder

Okay, I admit that I was getting a little carried away, thinking spring was nearly here. We had some lovely sunny days in the sixties in late January. I found some Siberian Irises coming up.

Nature had the last laugh, though. Yesterday, the mail brought a big seed order from Park Seeds and an electric hedge trimmer to use on the chicory. Two hours later, it began to snow, the fine steady snow that doesn't look like it's amounting to much.

This was the scene this morning. It was so beautiful it made me gasp. Seven inches so far, and more expected all day and evening.

Because it was so still, it piled up on unlikely places, like the clotheslines.

After I shoveled the porches, I settled in front of the fire to complete my Jung Seeds order. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these gardeners from their blooming plans.