Sunday 26 January 2014

Wishing my days away



My excitement levels are rising just as the sap is beginning to rise. When I walk down the garden Clematis Cirrhosa 'Wisley Cream' is already out, with poor delicate flowers battered by the rain. Clematis Armandii is full of buds, and, as yet has not been checked by low temperatures. The shoots of the daffodil bulbs are clearly visible in the longer grass of the orchard, and a few brave snowdrops are in full flower.


The tulips are pushing through now, and I saw Aconites in a garden I drove past the other day.
The sap is beginning to rise and on a fine day I swear I smell Spring on the wind.



So why do I feel a little gnawing of discontent ? A little feeling inside that all is not as it should be ? It is because I have just realised that, as gardeners, we wish our lives away.



I want the daffodils to be out, and the leaves on the trees to be unfurling, damn it, I want to see the first rose, and smell the tomato plant smell in the greenhouse. I want the garden hose to be warm and pliable in my hand, and to enjoy the cool water when it splashes me. I'm impatient with leaden skies, bare soil and closed windows.



I wish I was as passionate about knitting , or golf, or home baking, because then I could do it all year round, without a break. As it is, I am a happy content soul until about November, when the last flower has flowered and the soil gets wet and cold. From then until Spring I am mentally crossing off the days until Spring, when the whole roller coaster starts again.


There is even a little app which someone has invented for us gardeners, which ticks off the days, hours and minutes until the official start of Spring. I haven't downloaded it because I don't want to watch the clock.



Blogging has really brought this home to me, because we are all the same, all wishing away the cold winter days, longing for the Spring to come, so we can get out there and do what we do best ... garden! All of us, wishing away those days when we could be  enjoying relaxing by a log fire, reading, knitting, baking ... What a waste of each precious day.







It's not that I don't enjoy making my own homemade bread, or reading a novel, or knitting a wonky scarf, it's just that I don't have the same passion for it.


So, I'll admit it, I'm just waiting, with growing impatience, for it all to kick off ...








14 comments:

  1. I had to go and check you sidebar, where on earth do you live I thought that you have anything growing right now....living in a cold climate we forget that there are placed with spring on the horizon. But it's happening, and it's a good thing too.

    Beautiful post, yes we gardeners do wish away the day, but that's only because we wait so long to see our old flowering friends again.

    Jen

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    1. Hi Jen, thanks for your comments. I am in Lincolnshire, UK, which is in the East Midlands, about 30 miles from the sea. We have been blessed so far with an extremely mild winter, but I am not fooled, I know Sir Winter is hiding round a corner, twirling his moustache, waiting to spring into action !!

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  2. Where I live in southern California, you can literally garden all year round. The problem with that is that it can get exhausting! I've often envied gardeners who get the winter off - the idea of sitting about leisurely reading garden books, planning my spring garden, starting seeds inside, etc. appeals to me. Of course, if I was faced with a true winter, I expect I'd be tapping my heels waiting for spring too. In my case, it may just be a matter of the grass is grass is always greener in someone else's garden.

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  3. Hi Kris, maybe you are right - we are never content with our lot! Right now, all year gardening sounds like heaven, but maybe I should try to embrace enforced leisure time ... or move !!

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  4. Maybe I am the exception that proves the rule? I can't claim to be enjoying the seemingly endless wet weather we are "enjoying" at the moment, though in fairness we have had long spells of sun yesterday and today, but I rather enjoy winter. Small things bring disproportionate joy - first buds and emerging bulbs - plus I love the sculptural quality of bare trees, the colour from dogwood stems, the improbable flowers on with hazel. I think, most of all, I enjoy the change of pace, the lull before the storm that is Spring. And of course there is so much gardening to be done inside, in my head, dreaming up improbable new plans for the coming year...

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  5. Ah, you are so positive Janet. I know what you mean about the trees - there is very little which is more beautiful in this world than a bare tree against a winter sky !

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  6. It certainly is dreary with the gray skies all winter long, and being cooped up inside. I'm lucky - the skies are usually blue in North Carolina, even in the winter, so it's not nearly as bad as it could be. When I lived in New York, I had a serious case of the winter blues, and every April, when the trees starting leafing out, I would say to myself, How on earth did I survive this winter?

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  7. Hi Sarah, lucky you though, being in New York, winter or not ! I have been once to visit and, even though it was April, the wind there was the coldest I have ever felt, and cut like a knife.

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  8. With the mild (albeit wet/stormy) winter so much of our garden seems to be ahead of where it would normally be in January. Hopefully there won't be a cold spell to set it all back.

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    1. Whereabouts are you Gaz ? We are in Lincolnshire so have rain wind and floods but it has been extremely mild. Let's hope it continues !!

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  9. Beautiful iris! Colorful flowers. I can't wait to see your garden on the next spring.

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  10. Hi Endah, thankyou for your comments. It is such a good feeling to think about the Spring getting nearer and nearer with each day !

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  11. Spring is still a long ways off here. I'm so busy with work, it helps the time pass but I am still just waiting, waiting, waiting!

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  12. Why do we wish our precious days away !! Like you, work takes your mind off other things, but I still am waiting very impatiently !!

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I really welcome comments and have learned much from them, over the years of leaning over the virtual garden gate ...