OT - Winter Lingers, Yet Spring Is Near - Musings from Summerland

2 years ago

It has been a very long while since I last posted my garden musings on the Antique Roses Forum. It is still winter here in the Great White North of the Okanagan Valley. But I made the trip to the Summerland Ornamental Gardens this morning to see how much snow was still on the rose beds and to do an assessment. I wrote the bit below for the Ladies on my Rose Team. I thought perhaps it might fit here as well, particularly for those of you who live in a more northerly climate. A bit of a break from the incessant trials and tribulations that haunt our news cycles perhaps.

Cheers, Rick

I returned from the Gardens this morning after spending some time wandering and assessing, both roses and the Garden as a whole. On the way back I was listening to Sergei Rochmaninof – “How Fair This Place” and to Samuel Barber’s – “There’s Nae Lark” Both pieces seemed somewhat serendipitous after my time spent alone in the winter garden.

The background to my musings in the Garden was the persistent soughing of the late winter wind through the bare canopy of the great old trees that are the sentinels of the place. The two symphony pieces picked up on the somber, yet expectant mood of the winter garden. No folk, no animals, just myself, the dormant plants and patches of persistent snow here and there about. Grey trees and brown trunks, white patches, coniferous greens, yellow grasses, still a winter palate. An austere place, a waiting place, an expectant place! A backdrop of clouds and veils of snow set the scene across the lake in the mountains to the east. Yet there were small signs of spring if I looked closely enough. The Witch Hazels are in bloom; Snowdrops, tiny beauties, white and green against the frozen earth, and the first glimpse of shoots of Crocuses are breaking the soil. No, not spring, still winter, but winter is tired and getting ready to depart. And then we will greet the spring.

There is a special beauty in the Garden, especially “Canada’s Secret Garden” on a grey day at the end of winter. The raw beauty of the plantings, devoid of leaf and green; they are stark, yet stalwart and beautiful as they stand against the wind and the sky. The bare bones of our Garden, stoically dormant to the winter winds, the snow and the grey skies. Waiting, ready to wake and to put their stored energy into the buds of spring. A place for the birds, the squirrels, the folk, and yes, the bears to return to their lively rounds of spring and summer living. And so, I too now begin to wake from my winter rites and activities. Are your ready to go into the garden? There is much to do!

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