JUST PUT IT IN THE GROUND!
I know it’s not that simple.
I have been sitting around for days wondering how I would begin this article. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I wrote a few sentences down only to be disgusted by my ideas, the language, the approach and especially the lack of fun and humor. There is defiantly a stagnant air floating through the landscape this year. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t enthusiastic about getting out there and helping life begin.Want to get excited, check out how to become a master gardener, Exclusive offer to Long Islanders by Plant With Me. Now that I have begun to relax, sitting here late into the evening, the sensation of the season change is taking root.
My wife and I took a few days and stayed in the city a couple weeks ago. We stayed at Hotel On The Avenue, which is a nice boutique hotel on the upper west side. We didn’t do much other than relax, hang out and stroll around town. I can’t tell you exactly what trees’ buds I witnessed swelling last week in New York City, but a great sigh of relief came over me. I felt good for the first time in over a month and it lasted quiet a while after seeing that which hasn’t been present here in the northeast for months (it has felt like an eternity). I tell you this because I live and breath with each seasons special offerings. Now we are here once more, as we have been so many times before. Those of you who have been around for years, living, breathing, gardening and appreciating life for all that it is, knows that this moment is just one more rung on the ladder. What we do to enhance this moment shouldn’t be a mystery. I am hoping many of you have set markers in the earth (planted bulbs in the past few years) to assist everyone in recognizing the arrival of our coming season. Spring.
The heads of Tulips, Hyacinths, Narcissus, Crocus and the Muscari all follow the performances of the snowdrops in our woodland gardens. I can only hope to have the opportunity to say hello to all of the characters appearing in this Springtime’s production of watch me grow, lol. If you haven’t noticed, I am setting everyone up to make the effort to stop and smell the, well not really roses but we can still steal the line. I am only trying to slow us all down long enough to stop, look, listen, smell and even reach out and feel the energy flowing from the emerging plants this time of year.
Going off on a tangent. When pruning an ornamental tree in late winter, we prune with the intention that the tree will compartmentalize (click on the word to be blown away by Alex Shigo), close itself off to any further damage more quickly than any other time of year. Trees do this so well in the springtime because of the amount of energy they expend in pushing out new flowers, leaves, needles and or scales. With this great push to create new life trees have demonstrated a great capacity to protect themselves from further damage by identifying weak and injured areas, then in turn developing walls/barriers that have a great ability to sustain the tree for years to come.
Back to our springtime flower awakening. There is no greater way than through pictures for me to demonstrate my garden design ideas. So, just like Otis would say in Animal House at the Des Delay Club, “Here itiz.”
These pictures represent here are just a few ideas that can begin to encourage you to plant a few bulbs around your own property. It only takes one small package of bulbs and your own piece of earth to begin making the difference. To encourage you further take your kids to the grandest planting adventures in your communities. There are arboretums and state parks in every state of the union. Take the time and make the effort to reconnect to the life around you with friends and family. I promise it won’t be disappointing. Here on Long Island we have Planting Fields in Oyster Bay, Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River and Bailey Arboretum located in Lattingtown. There are many other opportunities to visit and view gardens around long Island. It takes very little effort to contact Long Island Tourism to find out all that you may want to know. Have fun discovering all the many things you never knew existed right in your own backyard.