Today we have another guest blog post from the wonderful people at Storey Publishing. Many thanks to Gwen Steege, Senior Acquisitions Editor, for sharing her gardening story! Since we are grateful for the promise of spring, what better time to look back on the winter that was…
None of us New Englanders will soon forget Winter 2011. Attitudes are mixed, depending on your point of view: skiers loved it, snow shovelers hated it, walkers slipped and slid.
No matter, day after day no one could deny the sheer beauty of it – sparkling ice-drenched branches, Zen-gardenlike patterns in windswept snow, late afternoon sun transforming woods and fields into studies in peach, lavender, and white.
But perhaps the biggest boon of all may turn out to be what that deep layer of snow did for our gardens, and as it melts, we’re just beginning to see its effects.
Sunday, March 20 was the iconic first day of spring – sunny, mild(ish), windy. It was impossible to resist the urge to check out what might be happening in the garden. (In reality, it was the first time since early December that we could even see the garden, never mind check it out.) Only a few weeks earlier, it was still under 2 feet of snow. We’re lucky: We live high on the slope of a steep, sandy hill, so as the snow melts, the icy water quickly runs off, leaving the garden ready to work much sooner than those of our friends in the valley. In spite of the fact that some of the debris we cleared away was still clumped in ice, the signs of life in the uncovered ground caught our breath: The knobby buds of hellebores were pushing through the soil like little fists, early daffodils already showed yellow buds, heuchera and azalea still wore their richly purple leaves (most years their foliage is completely winterkilled).
Spring is always magical, but never more so than this year. Under that heavy blanket of snow, both loved and despised, so much life has been impatiently waiting to explode. Snow’s protective covering is clearly a kind of magic to respect and treasure, and who knows how much lovelier than ever the rest of spring and summer will be!
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