This past winter felt particularly harsh this year. I have a knack for scheduling travel during the worst storms. Snowmageddon found me in an airport in South Carolina with the first snow they’d seen in more than a decade. I was ‘stuck’ in Las Vegas during Hurricane Sandy for three unplanned days and had the pleasure of sharing a hotel lobby with about 100 other people during Atlanta’s historic ice storm. This year I found myself rolling my luggage in about 6 inches of snow from Penn Station to Times Square in NYC and then in Rhode Island buried in 2 feet of snow.
It’s with enormous pleasure that I greet the Spring! I’ve found myself staring out my office window or standing in my yard simply reveling in the colors, watching my garden come to life.
We’re fortunate in Northern Virginia to have a climate that’s conducive to almost every type of plant. We can have tropical plants that will thrive in the summer heat and hardier perennials that will reappear with no help at all every year. There are many colorful choices for shady areas as well as full sun areas. So far we’ve re-edged all the garden space in our backyard, we’ll be rebuilding a short stone wall in the front yard this weekend and of course it’s time for mulch. Lots and lots of mulch…seriously, hundreds of bags of mulch.
Lots more work to do, but the pleasure of sitting in our koi pond and simply enjoying the buzz of the bees and the occasional hummingbird coming to feast makes the hard work blissful.
Want some tips and help with your garden? Visit the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia website http://mgnv.org/. You can even stop by several area Farmer’s Markets and talk with a Master Gardener face to face. Want to visit the best public gardens in Virginia? Check out http://www.virginia.org/virginiagardens/ If you like combining your garden interest with a little history and science (and some amazing beers and wines!) plan a trip to Charlottesville and visit the Monticello Gardens. The Mount Vernon gardens in Spring is a great outdoor activity for kids and families.
I hope you get to take a few minutes to recover from the harsh winter and enjoy the Spring as much as I do.