Dreaming of Spring

Here in Canada there are two seasons; Gardening season and wishing-it-was-Gardening season.

We fool ourselves in February with thoughts that spring will soon be here.  Unless you live on our West coast that is not the case.  Tender annuals and many veggie plants cannot be planted till all danger of frost is past.  Do you know when THAT is ?  Late frikkin' May !

Prior to that magical time  and after the ground has finally unfrozen I console myself with digging up and moving unsuspecting perennials and planting peas and other things that can handle the cold.  Toward the end of April I may start some seeds indoors but I often start seedlings too soon and they end up very leggy and sickly.

February is a good time to sit inside staring moodily out the window at the frozen ground and sigh over the lush photos in garden magazines...or search my computer hard drive for past garden photos.

I talk a lot these days about my lack of pictures in my mind but I wonder in this case if spring holds a greater magic for me than it might for you.    I know that things grow and look marvellous but each spring when leaves sprout forth on trees I feel like I am seeing them for the first time.  

Just as in summer I cannot visualize what the trees would look like without their leaves, so too in winter I cannot imagine them crowned in green.









Most trailer park lots are small.  Houses have minuscule front yards and side yards into which their neighbours back door and windows face.  I specifically chose a corner lot with a large front yard and a back door facing onto a modest rear yard which I promptly had fenced for the dogs and cats enjoyment.

I worried the sloped back would be very sloppy in spring so I decided to build a stone retaining wall and plant some shrubs and make s stone path ...

The small bushes and trees along the fence now are as high as the fence.

The front yard has been and still is a work in progress.

It was all lawn when I started.  Raised bed gardens were added.

Each year another bed.

 

My dream was for the front yard in front of my picture window to be a bit of a wild woodland area that would provide a natural environment for critters and privacy for me.  It started with an end of season sale of scraggly plants at Canadian Tire.

After a couple of years that area was well established with the addition of wildflowers.

And then each year the flower garden was extended across the lawn.  Did I mention I'm not a fan of lawns ?

As the garden grew, a windy path came into existence meandering past the flowers, around the wild garden and back.

As the new beds were created my wild garden provided an environment for frogs and salamanders.

And became home to a hidden seat and a three-part dragon sculpture my dear old da' had made years ago.

Right now the lawn is covered in snow but a small heater is keeping the pond open and six goldfish peer out at the frozen world over their heads.

Should I tell them that I'm dreaming of expanding their pond and perhaps adding a waterfall ?

Are you dreaming of spring time ?