Serendipity Gardens by Carol Hegel Lang

Recently I read this statement in one of my gardening magazines, “Gardeners are dreamers,” and I definitely will have to plead guilty. Who else but a gardener could close their eyes and dream of a garden full of vibrant colors and fragrance on a cold, winter day in the heart of January? The anticipation of the first flowers in spring has my heart fluttering just waiting to see the tiny crocus pop its head above the dirt or to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the smell of wet soil after a gentle rain.

As I was heading down to my office in the basement, Roosevelt lay stretched out in the kitchen in front of the sunny window. I thought of how lucky he was to just relax and take in the rays of sun as they poured into the room. He had not a care in the world and looked so peaceful, but if I told him there were squirrels in the backyard I am sure he would have jumped to attention.  Benjamin Franklin said, “Do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.” I don’t think that applied to Roosevelt as he leads a dog’s life of leisure most of the time.

My countdown to spring has begun with only 43 days until its arrival! The highbush cranberry bush that stands next to the north side of the house needs to get pruned as soon as I can get through the snow that covers the grass in that area. It has really become overgrown for the site — not only in height, but also in width. That will be my first chore for this month. Soon I need to take the flower heads off the hydrangea bushes and if there are any broken branches trim them off. I prune off just the flower heads. Also, as the month wears on, I will trim the clematis down to about 12 inches and pile the trimmings up somewhere discreet for the birds to use in their nests come spring.

My dreams for renovating the cutting garden were put on hold last fall when a skunk sprayed my pile of bricks behind the shed. That will be my project as soon as the snow has melted. The bricks will get loaded into my trusty water wagon and hauled to the front yard where I will line them up in a curve expanding the cutting garden. Next will be to pile six layers of newsprint over the grass. Since there is a lot of clay and sand in this area I will need to amend the soil with compost, manure and topsoil to about six inches over the newsprint. Then I will put down a layer of pine mulch several inches thick so that by the end of May, when I plant seeds the grass will have died, I can just dig my trenches to plant seeds in.

For the past few weeks I have been sorting through my garden magazines dating back to 2012 and sharing them with other gardeners because it is time to let them go. This is difficult for me as I often peruse them in the winter months for many of the ideas for my columns. But the stack was getting mighty high and it was time to say goodbye to them. On the cover of one of my favorites it said, “Gardens of bliss.”  I got out my trusty dictionary to see what the meaning of the word bliss was: a noun, it means complete happiness. If my gardens didn’t already have a name I think that is what I would have named them, Gardens of Bliss.

It is hard not to spend my time dreaming about the gardens this time of the year when the landscape is white instead of the colorful quilt that decorates my yards in the summer. There is so much peace and serenity when I sit among the gardens and just listen to the songs of the birds or watch the flutter of butterflies dashing from flower to flower or take a close look at the insects that have found a place to get nectar. How can one not dream of gardens during the winter when you remember the beauty of a spring day or the sound of thunder off in the distance alerting me to an impending storm?  And so it is time to think spring!

“Happiness flutters in the air whilst we rest among the breaths of nature.”  — Kelly Scheaffer

 

Carol Hegel Lang is a green thumb residing in Albert Lea. Her column appears weekly. Email her at carolhegellang@gmail.com.