Winter, where is thy sting, so that I may enjoy spring
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These snowdrops appeared Feb. 6 in Doug Oster's garden.
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What is spring without winter?
Even though I despise cold weather and have enjoyed my impossibly long, steep driveway being snow-free, I can't wrap my head around this season. I know I shouldn't complain, but the late winter garden isn't the same without first struggling with cabin fever.
When the warm afternoon sun heated up a bed of crocus bulbs, their cheery purple flowers dotted the landscape. But the excitement and satisfaction of seeing them bloom just wasn't there like in previous seasons.
How ironic it is that the dreaded winter is a necessary evil, at least for me? The past few winters have been brutal, but when spring arrived, it was so welcome.
I visited a friend in Florida years ago and envied the climate he enjoyed year-round. But he longed for the change of seasons. "You know the one day you walk out of the house and smell spring in the air?" he said. "We just don't have that here."
Thinking about it now, I realize I also need the change, a break from the garden. But this seems to be a continuous gardening season. Greens protected by floating row covers are still producing, pansies are in bloom, flowering kale remains and the tall 'Redbor' variety is putting on new growth.
Snowdrops are always the first plants to bloom in my garden. The earliest I've ever seen them is Feb. 15. This year I saw the white flowers more than a month earlier. It was a miracle the year they bloomed in mid-February, and it was thrilling. But mid-January feels wrong.
There's nothing to be done with the bulbs that have emerged. If it's only foliage above ground, no worries. They will bloom when they are ready. If the buds are already showing, gardeners should cross their fingers that they don't freeze. That would mean waiting another season for the flowers.
I do know why the winter has been so mild. It was my $750 purchase of a big, self-propelled snow blower able to traverse the terrain of my long, uphill driveway. I have used it only once this year. If you're loving this season, you have me to thank.
After a long gray snowy winter, the sight of luminescent crocus flowers and petite snowdrops hugging the ground is exhilarating. For me, the magic of the first blooms of the season have faded like an April snowflake.
First Published February 11, 2012 12:00 am
