Spring Has Arrived!

Just a few short weeks ago, New York and the surrounding areas were hit with a snowstorm that brought the city to a halt. Last weekend the area was again buffeted by a devastating nor'easter that uprooted hundreds of trees, downed power lines and caused untold thousands of dollars in damage to homes, cars, businesses. Winter's dying gasp was memorable, to say the least, but no less so than Spring's first breath.

This weekend we were treated to glorious weather. It was unseasonably warm, bright and sunny...all the excuse I needed to head out to my garden to renew it and myself. I was joyously greeted by an explosion of color from my daffodils and crocuses. It seems as if everything is in a hurry to shake off the grey of winter and don the colors of warmer weather. Here are the first photos of my 2010 garden featuring two of my stalwart perennials. They, as do the burgeoning buds all around me, make me smile.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

2010 Awakes

January. Winter. Cold. Makes you want to stay indoors curled up in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea, a good book and favorite afghan thrown over your legs. I haven't been in my garden since its annual clean up and winterizing ritual and haven't thought much about it until this week. Small branches and twigs had fallen and collected in an unkempt pile in my yard so I ventured out one relatively mild day to clean them up. In the process I discovered something surprising. My daffodils, well over a hundred of them, are beginning to poke through the ground. My old (over 10 years) strawberry plant is showing signs of green under the dessicated remains of last year's growth. My stalwart sedum (I swear you can't kill this plant) is coming back again as it has for over 15 years and the tender plants that I brought into the house in the fall are showing signs of renewed vigor. It appears the growing season has quietly arrived and is in full throttle.

The lengthening of the days since the winter solstice has worked its magic on Mother Nature and she is showing her appreciation with promises of springtime while thoughts of a bountiful garden fill my head.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Winterizing has begun

Autumn, which was unbelievably cold and unforgiving just a week ago, has once again turned mild, albeit damp and overcast. In spite of this renewed warmth, I know winter awaits around the corner and can appear at any moment. With this in mind I have begun my annual ritual of winterizing the garden.

You might think there isn't much that needs doing in a garden once the flowers are gone and the leaves are on the ground. In my garden there are at least a dozen flower pots that need to be brought into the shed or placed out of the path of a snowblower. The same goes for the benches and the pots hanging from the fence. My children's toy wagon, in which I once hauled toddlers, pre-teens and groceries alike, now acts as my makeshift wheelbarrow. Every year I wash it, polish it with ArmorAll and cover it with heavy plastic contractor grade bags to protect it from the elements during the winter. It's my hope to have that old wagon around to haul grandchildren and grand nieces and nephews so I treat it with great care and love.

Every year I go through this winterizing ritual and when I have finally completed it, I always have the same mixed feeling of accomplishment and emptiness. The yard is cleared and ready to rest again until the next growing season, giving me a sense of accomplishment, but I miss the color, the vibrance, the life of my summer garden.

It's time to bring in the tender plants, leave the annuals to die back and salivate over the offerings in my garden nursery catalogs. Winter's approach may have chased me indoors but I'm planning the strategy for my next horticultural attack. I'm thinking less flowers, more vegetables, perhaps some gourds for fall decorating. Hmmm, I'd better rest up this winter. There's much work to be done next spring.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

It's Officially Fall

Although the beginning of fall is observed on the day of the autumnal equinox, I use a simpler, more organic method...I look at my garden. As long as it is warm enough for me to pick veggies and admire my flowers I don't pay attention to the calendar. This week, Autumn tossed her red-gold tresses and made her full presence felt in the cold, blustery winds she sent to scatter the fallen leaves like a whirling dervish. As much as it pained me to do so, I began bringing my plants in from the cold. The windows in my screenhouse, which acts as a makeshift greenhouse during warmer weather, were closed. It now acts as a waystation for those plants that didn't make into the house on the first round. I've begun to harvest marigold and four o'clock seeds for next year's garden and am hoping to salvage some coleus indoors for a little winter color.

Autumn is Winter's harbinger and where Autumn treads, Winter follows close behind. I've made a mental note to have the snowblower serviced in preparation for this winter. Snow's a-coming, that's for sure, along with a long winter. I'm preparing for the kind of winter I experienced as a child when winters were snowy and magical.

I will miss my garden but now it is time for her to sleep.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Spring Finally Arrives

(Note: Click on an image for a larger view)

Exactly three weeks ago today we New Yorkers were given a parting shot from Mother Nature in the form of a major snowstorm. There was snow and ice aplenty but fortunately it didn't last very long. By the end of the week we were again enjoying unseasonably warmish temperatures. It was quite odd to be standing in front of my house in a t-shirt having a conversation about the relative heat when all around me were the final vestiges of snow that remained. This inconsistent see-saw weather, warm one day, cool or cold the next, is being reflected in my garden. As I mentioned in my last post, my daffodils and tulips were beginning to show their tops early while my crocuses were nowhere to be seen. Apparently I'm not the only one noticing the delayed crocus bloom because I just read a post on another blog that reported the same thing.

Back in the fall, I reported in my personal blog, Gitana's Corner, how fall seemed to begin early then paused in order to allow summer to tend to unfinished business in the form of late blooming crops. (Click here to read that post.) Well, it appears that same energetic shift is repeating itself with winter and spring. Spring appears to be ready to burst forth in the form of tulips and daffodils but it has slowed its pace, allowing the crocuses to sprout and bloom first. Last weekend I was delighted to be greeted in my front garden by the first of my tiny crocuses. Like last summer's crops, the crocus bloom was not as abundant as in past years but if this seasonal transition emulates the last one, spring should be bountiful.

The energetic shift I am observing in my garden also seems to emulate that of society at large. People are anxious to get on with life as usual in a hurry but our current economic downturn is holding things at bay, allowing changes that are being made at the governmental level an opportunity to take hold and have an effect. Everyone wants things to change right away. The universe is taking it's time.

Here's a thought...wouldn't it be wonderful if human nature took a cue from Mother Nature and slowed down, allowing things to unfold in their own good time instead of being in such a rush? Something to think about.

Ballo ergo sum,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Nature's Sucker Punch

(Note: Click on an image for a larger view)

Last fall, I posted an entry on my main blog, Gitana's Corner, that discusses that contradictory energy I encountered in my garden last year. (You can read more about it here.) Well, it would seem that Mother Nature is not yet done with her temporal shenanigans.

Here in New York, we enjoyed temperatures in the low 50's for much of last week, inspiring me to begin pulling back the mulch on a section of my front garden. I was delighted to see so much new growth poking up through the ground. What surprised me was that I saw what appeared to be nascent daffodils and tulips, flowers I did not expect to see for a few more weeks. The tiny crocuses that I normally see at this time of year were not apparent. (To be honest, I didn't remove the mulch in their part of the garden yet. Perhaps they are there waiting for me to "pull back the sheets", so to speak.) At any rate I convinced myself that winter was over and spring would be early, in spite of the inner voice that told me otherwise, so I resolved to return to the garden over the weekend to complete the mulch removal. The siren song of my garden was calling and I was anxious to respond.

How foolish of me to second guess Mother Nature. She showed us all her capricious side by dumping a snowstorm on the NY metropolitan area on Sunday night, so much so that the city's schools were closed on Monday. There was nearly a foot of snow piled on my garden. As the ice melted and refroze, it created huge icicles around my house. (Take a look at the stalagtites hanging from my air conditioner.) Fortunately I had not gotten around to removing any more of the mulch so most of my garden was still under a protective layer of leaves. This was a valuable lesson for me. It taught me once again not to ignore that little voice that speaks to me from within. It always speaks the truth and to ignore it is to risk regretting your actions. I can only hope that my nascent flowers will weather this storm well and live to bloom another day.

Ballo ergo sum,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Life Persists

For me, one of the joys of gardening is the incredible amount of information I receive from my plants. Yes, information. If you know how to "read" your plants you can learn a lot. The concept is the same as learning to "read" a person...you pick up on subtle clues that give you insight into information that may not be common knowledge.

It is winter now. Today, in fact, it is snowing, with forecasts promising 2 -3 inches of accumulation. I was out in my shed/greenhouse today, trying to get my snowblower started when I decided to clear out the dead remains of the plants that had flourished there during the warmer months. The scene was a depressing tangle of brittle vines, dessicated stems and dead leaves hanging from pots and sticking up from planters. As the snow fell outside and I cleared out the dead plants, I happened to casually glance at one pot standing in a corner, one of the few that had no dead plants needing to be cleaned out. There was nothing special about it, just a pot with dirt in it, but a little voice told me to take a closer look. There, in at least a half dozen places, were the nascent leaves of bulbs poking through the surface. Even here, in the midst of a winter storm, life persists. Spring, in all her glory, will once again fulfill her annual promise of color and beauty.

This was not the only sign of winter's eventual end. Last week I saw new greening in the sedum in my front garden. Just the fact that I had the urge to clear out the old growth at this early date (I usually do this in early to mid spring) is an indication to me that we may have if not an early spring than perhaps an abrupt spring, with the weather changing suddenly from cool to warm all at once.

My garden is a source of great pleasure. In the weeks and months ahead I will share with you the "conversations" I have with my plants and my interpretation of the information they share with me.

Ballo ergo sum,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva