Spring Flowers

The flowers bloom in quiet solitude. 

The garden has started to shine. I came to visit and nurture the flowers a bit. It seemed a good way to spend an unexpected day off. Tiny star flowers, peony shoots, tulip leaves, iris starts. So far it's an unusual year. The crocuses are spent. But yet the cherry blossoms are barely popping. 

And the harbinger of spring, the forsythia, is not in bloom in the south yard at all - though, the forsythia to side of the house is blooming close to the rocks where the reflected heat warms it. Something chewed the almond bush to bits - seems tall for the lawn bunnies, but deer would be unlikely. I have 4 types of lilacs. They seem to be doing well. The early blooming lilacs are still furled tightly.

The Lenten rose came up - the first time it's bloomed in 3 years. The iris which were a wedding gift came up again, but hasn't proliferated. While the iris which were a pass-along from my former grandmother-in-law have spread. I can't wait for them to come up. I love their rich purple color, and she was a very kind woman.

I love peonies. The ones in the back by the crab apple tree seem to to be coming up beautifully. My favorite magenta peonies in the front of the house seem to be waning, perhaps they need transplanted - like me. I can't find the $80 tree peony that was an anniversary gift. Appropriate. But the tree peony I bought for $5, on sale, and he almost crushed by stepping on, has flourished and blooms the most astonishing pink each year. Even now, with it barely greening up, the skeletons of last year's flowers are arresting and foreshadow the beauty to come.

Always, Spring revitalizes me as the garden reveals treasures. I mourn a bit at the losses, but inevitably something I'd given up on - the tree peony last year, the lenten rose this year - shows up as unexpected gift.

Take-away - Release your expectations. See what treasures await.

(And if you have some free time - my dreaded foe, the burdock root, is back. Great way to get out your aggressions by pulling it up!)

Another post you might like: Summer Days