What season is this? We have just had about three weeks of balmy spring weather. Most gardeners can’t relax when a warm spell in winter lingers. The good side is that we see flowers, which are often frozen just as they are about to open. This year was an exception. The garden is fragrant with Prunus mumes blooming throughout the woods, along the driveway and near the house. Iris unguicularis blooms better than in recent years and, although we must kneel to it, is worth every bend and creak of the knees. Mahonias delight us with their subtler fragrance while Chimonanthus fragrans welcomes us as we approach the parking lot. Even Edgeworthia chrysantha commanded us to stop and smell the delicious fragrance in its yellow centered flowers. But all is not peaceful when the weather is unseasonal. Edgeworthia did not complete its display; the top of the largest plant is withered and gray. Nights in the 20s will turn the apricots brown and shrivel the irises. Narcissus will bend to the ground in the early mornings, but most will recover. We rejoice that we got a glimpse of spring at the beginning of winter and we will enjoy the tough hardy flowers that can take such cold.

Hellebores will continue to beckon us to the woods where we select our favorite flowers and hand pollinate them with visions of new forms and masses of our most beautiful ones in future years. I finally learned to accept what comes and enjoy it when we have it. After all next year will be different—maybe more “normal” but maybe even worse! In the meantime, we won’t miss a day looking for new buds to open and old friends to welcome back above ground.

The Weather

MONTROSE