Busy Times Ahead
When it comes to gardening, February is the time of year I really look forward to. Yes it's cold and dreary, but there's an alluring sense of optimism in the air. Nature is about to give us a new canvas to work with, as the soil once again breathes life into our gardens and allotments. Spring bulbs jostle against the snow and ice, wowing us with their crisp and exquisite blooms. Herbaceous perennials are giving up the old for the new, now that snow, ice and biting winds have broken down their cellular structure. Beneath the ground roots are starting to swell again. Above ground, new shoots are emerging from their dormancy, and fresh growth buds are forming on even the most lifeless looking shrubs. If plants have survived the winter, then in the next few weeks it will be evident in their strong new growth, leaving it clear for me to see what needs cutting down to the ground, pruning or even digging up for the compost heap. Deciduous trees and shrubs, stripped of their leaves all winter, now act as see-through outlines, enabling me to plan any planting around them. So, as I venture out on the odd milder days of February, I can look forward to busy times ahead.
As I look out of my kitchen window on these cold wintry days, robin reminds me that Spring is just around the corner.
Springtime
Come sit with me
So we can watch the spring.
For should we stray
We’d miss it,
everything.
The daffodils have
sang
With no encore,
To let the bluebells
Take the stage once
more.
No other time,
Does nature show such
Zest
As a thousand shades
of green
Bring hopefulness.
A bland and
speechless world of winter's past,
Where everything was
grey
And overcast.
So sit with me
To watch the colours
grow.
Springtime doesn’t
last
That long you know.
By Elizabeth Colley
