New Life

A few years ago, at about this time of the year, I received a letter from a dear friend who was residing in London at the time.  At one point she described the scene from her kitchen window of a window box and beyond it, a garden, that was coming to life now that Spring had arrived.  

As I reflected upon her letter I thought how wonderful it must be to live in the northern hemisphere at Easter time with such visible signs of new life all around.  It must be such a joy to celebrate new life in the risen Christ with gardens coming to life after a long, cold winter.  Noel Piper certainly thought so this year.  It is such a beautiful parallel to be found in nature. 

In my neck of the woods Easter comes in Autumn, after a long, hot summer.  Most gardens blessed to have me as their caretaker are fairly dry and crisp by this time of the year.  There are no parallels of new life to be found anywhere nearby!

This year was going to be no exception.  The garden bed that I famously started planting out last year was in a terrible state at the end of summer.  By mid-February I decided to prune back the daisies and the geraniums hard.  I figured I would reduce the stress on the plants, trying so hard to keep their few remaining leaves alive in all this heat and lack of rain.  So I cut them all back until they resembled small, brown stick plants.  I didn't know whether they would survive the pruning, but then they weren't going to survive the summer anyway.  I should have taken a photo of this appalling sight.  But it was just too miserable!

However things have turned out differently this Easter following a big storm that dumped 50 mm of rain in one afternoon nearly two weeks ago.  Since then we have had warm, sunny days - not unlike spring - and the spectre of brown that surrounded our house has turned to green.  Including the poor little stick plants in the garden bed.  They have all started sprouting and are giving the distinct impression that they are going to be in good form by the time spring really does arrive.  This was a real Easter treat for me.

So I have a little shopping list on the whiteboard on our fridge.

2 x daisies

2 x rosemary bushes - important for a roast lamb chef

4 x lavender bushes

Eight tough plants that will finish the planting out and will hopefully survive future summers of heat, little water and inevitable neglect.  I hope to go shopping soon.  I think there's almost enough in the piggy bank.

It was a joy to experience new life in the garden this Easter.  And I am glad to have new life breathed into the great gardening project as well.  More photos to follow, I am sure.