Before writing this article, I got curious and looked up the word "spring" in my handy thesaurus just for fun. There, I found some very interesting words and phrases that describe this wonderful season called Spring. They are as follows:
"spring, springtide, springtime, seedtime or budtime, Maytime, Eastertide; primavera [Ital] , prime, prime of the year, "the boyhood of the year" [Tennyson] , "Sweet Spring, full of sweet days and roses" [George Herbert] , "Daughter of heaven and earth, coy Spring" [Emerson] , "the time of the singing of birds" [Bible] , "when the hounds of spring are on winter's traces" [Swinburne] . --- Roget's International Thesaurus, Fourth Edition, by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
As a gardener, my two favorites of these descriptions are "seedtime or budtime" and "the time of the singing of birds." Without a doubt, I am always very delighted "when the hounds of spring are on winter's traces!" And of course, nothing could be more inspirational after bidding winter goodbye than "Sweet Spring, full of sweet days and roses!"
Yes! I truly am looking forward to my annual appointment with spring -- and to working in and enjoying my butterfly and hummingbird garden!
Unlike me, my garden was a very hard worker during the month of February. You see, while I was dreaming of spring, reading new gardening books and magazines, and surfing the 'Net for informative gardening sites, such as Two Rainy Side Gardeners, my garden did much unseen work for me--all underground.
The roots and new shoots of my perennials were very busy developing and preparing for their new buds to appear in early March. The sap began to slowly but surely move upward again in my trees and shrubs. No doubt, eager earthworms are burrowing their way up to the "outside" world, also looking for signs of spring. During this process, they will be busy loosening the soil beneath my flower beds, serving as my underground helpers.
I've already greeted the bulging buds on my pink and coral azaleas and red rhododendrons {Family: Ericaceae}, readying themselves for early blooming. I have noted with great pleasure the tiny brave leaf buds on my roses, while making a mental note to sharpen my pruning shears and purchase a new pair of garden gloves. My purple grape hyacinth {Muscari armeniacum - Liliaceae} leaves are a bright, healthy green, their delicate flower buds busily forming on tender new stems.
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