Gardening

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    SO MANY SPRINGS

    ByLee Ann
    Maple leaf buds

    As we stand on the brink of summer, I find myself looking back at the spring season, my favourite. Rejuvenating spring energy bursts forth every year, both in Nature and in ourselves, don’t you find? Here in my neighbourhood, spring has been slow, cold and dry. Excellent conditions for a leisurely-paced arrival of spring bulbs and ephemerals, not to mention the Ottawa Tulip Festival. Not to mention my own energy, which this year returned quietly and steadily, after a very long winter.

    True to form, spring sped up this past week, bringing temps of 30C+ and causing many plants to also hurry their way through the flowering stage. I am determined to stay with my quiet, steady pace, enjoying the turnover in the garden from daffodils to tulips and alliums, and now peonies, irises and Amsonia (Blue Star.) How about you? Have you tuned in to the pace of Nature, taking some cues from her and stepping up the pace a little lately? Or are you trying to keep to something a little slower?

    Here’s a poem to encourage us to do just that.

    WE ONLY HAVE SO MANY SPRINGS

    Savour sunlight slowly warming
    favour raindrops over snowflakes

    count the queen bees’ sleepy bumbles
    mount a bike.

    Breathe in hyacinths sweet as popsicles
    weave a dandelion necklace

    Find your flip-flop, hopscotch frame of
    mind.

    May you find joy in each season!

    Lee Ann

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    SPRING EQUINOX

    ByLee Ann

    Last week marked the official change from winter to spring. Really?

    Lee Ann’s back yard, March 20

    Well, here’s my poetic response to that:

    RELUCTANT SPRING

    Red flash
    within tangled branches
    a cardinal’s quest
    for mate or meal.
    Bright hope
    though buds still clench
    the brambly twigs
    tightly
    in this reluctant spring.

    And in case your neighbourhood looks the same as mine, I thought I’d dedicate this post to all things gardening, to support you getting in the mood for Spring, whenever she decides to show up.

    I have three things for you. First, to help you with planning for this year’s gardening season, an article I wrote for the Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton (MGOC): “Five Things I Wish I Had Been Told as a Beginning Gardener.” May this save you many years of trial and error in your garden!

    And since we may still be restricted from actually digging in the dirt for a while longer, why not read a great book? One of my top picks this winter is all about trees – those magnificent beings we share the planet with and about which scientists have recently learned some fascinating things. Like: trees communicate with each other, underground via networks of fungi and above ground via chemicals released through leaves. Sound intriguing? Here’s my book review of Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World. (Note you can sign up for free to receive the MGOC Trowel Talk newsletter and get monthly gems of gardening advice and knowledge from Master Gardeners!)

    And finally, here’s a poetic** gift for you to savour as the wind blows and the spring snow falls:

    Lee Ann

    **This poem is a “haiku”: an ancient Japanese form of poetry, three lines long, where the first and last lines contain seven syllables and the middle line three syllables. Now you know!