A Time for Everything

The darkness of winter sometimes seems to last forever. Then suddenly, you wake up and you can see the sun beginning to lighten the horizon, and before you know it, the sun is up before you. We need winter, we need the darker days. Preparing to plant some delphinium seed reminded me of that. Darkness and cold help with the germination of some seeds. Without the cold and dark of winter, some seeds couldn’t survive. Spring wouldn’t be able to wake them because they need that cold and darkness. The fruit trees I have planted in my garden need cold days to be able to produce the fruit I enjoy. But even in this time between winter and spring, I see those joyous signs of life. The black pussy willows are beginning to swell. The temperature is warming and the sap will soon be running in the “veins” of the trees. Buds will begin to swell and the robins I hear in the fence rows down the road will come to my yard looking for the elusive worms. Flower season will be here shortly.