In spring and fall, when the garden is either just waking up or going about the business of the fall shutdown, small flowers are easier to notice. The other day I was stopped dead in my tracks by a clump of saffron crocus or Crocus sativus. The clump has been in the same place, under … Read more
Seeing the first small snow crocuses each year is akin to discovering that someone scattered jewels over your garden at night. My first tiny, goblet-shaped flowers usually peek out from under the privet hedge on the north side of the house. Later, a few appear in the front strip, generally alongside the somewhat showier snowdrops. … Read more
Every year in early to mid December, a few snowdrops or galanthus pop up in the little bed by my back porch steps. Depending on your perspective, they are either the last flowers of the old season or the first flowers of the new season. I prefer to think of them as a reminder that … Read more
There are days when I want to live in the moment, celebrate the quotidian experience and relish immediate delights—like the many stands of snowdrops currently on display in various parts of my garden. Other days, I am drawn to the past; especially when I think about people and places that exist only in memory. Being … Read more
The fall bulb catalogs are arriving day by day, their pages full of impossibly big tulips, daffodils of every description, and hyacinths whose portraits are so vibrant that you can almost smell them. I really should get my orders in—and I will in a week or so–but for right now I need more immediate gratification. … Read more
