Serendipity Gardens by Carol Hegel Lang

Spring seems to have finally arrived and with it many colors that will appear throughout the season. I always divide them into three parts, early spring with tulips, daffodils and crocuses; middle spring with forsythia, crab apple and plum trees, magnolias and lilacs; and late spring with alliums, irises, Virginia bluebells and bleeding hearts all in bloom.

What a kaleidoscope of colors appear during this transition from winter to spring when the earth comes alive again to rejuvenate our spirits. Yes, I will admit I have already made my first visit to the garden centers when a local one opened the day before Easter. I just wanted to smell the heady fragrances again, see color and also touch and feel them and to see life in bloom. If they would have let me sit on a bench I could have stayed there the whole day and just imagined what my gardens will look like in a few weeks.

Did I buy anything that day? Yes, I did! A couple of pots of violas that are quite hardy if the temperatures should drop down there again, or I can just pop them into the greenhouse to be safe. It gave me such a good feeling to see them sitting outside after I brought them home and knowing that soon I will have gardens full of blooming flowers and shrubs.

My journal is already started for this garden season as I walk the gardens daily and make notes about what plants have sprouted above ground. This morning I found several of the alliums up about five inches, kiss-me-over the garden gate along the garage, crocuses just beginning to bloom and daffodils with the start of buds. Such a wonderful feeling it gave me.

While I was in the area of the cutting garden the neighbor’s kitty wandered over for some tummy rubs, and then he followed me to the gardens. I had no sooner spotted the catmint poking its head above the soil when the kitty did too, and he rolled his body along the fresh green foliage and then rubbed his nose into it. I think he will probably be a frequent visitor when I get the rest of them planted in the gardens.

The birds also add so much color to the spring gardens with, of course, the cardinals that are here all year and then as the spring migrators arrive there will really be color everywhere. My grape jelly has been out for about two weeks and the robins, crows and finches are always eating it. When the apple trees start to bloom we should have orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers, blue jays, hummingbirds, warblers and many other colorful birds. One day I even saw a morning cloak flitting around looking for something sweet so I put out the bananas I have saved in the freezer over the winter for it.

The Miss Kim lilac is full of buds as well as the wine and roses weigelia so along the split-rail fence I will have lots of color again. My rhubarb is up so I will have to watch the temperatures closely because if we get a freeze it will need to be cut down as the acid in it become poisonous if it freezes the stems.

The Virginia bluebells are just beginning to break ground in the oval garden and what a beautiful show they will put on a bit later into the season with the pink bleeding hearts and peonies as well as the oriental poppies. My wildflowers have really died down over the past few years with the drought, but I should have trilliums and May apple this year that also add lots of color to the gardens.

My husband helped me get the small greenhouse up this afternoon, but we still don’t have the large one yet as I need to get a base of patio blocks laid down before we can purchase the big one. There’s always steps to take.

“Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of night.” — Rainer Maria Rilke