After all it is November. In the familial world we plan for Thanksgiving. In retail we are thankful for a tip of the hat to Hollowe’en and a moment of worship for All Saints before lights go up, ornaments out, and wrapping paper is on sale. However, for some of us this moment opens time to think about a new planting season. Fall comes so we can prepare for spring. Not for everybody. Here is an eye- opening conversation I had at a PT session last week.
The therapist and I have tennis-type exchanges between stretches and weight lifts. He: What’d you do last week end? Me: I went to the nursery for flowers. He: My girlfriend likes flowers. Me: What does she plant? He: Plant? I just give them to her. Me: It’s the season for pansies, my favorite flower! He: Season for flowers? I thought that was only for fruits and vegetables! At that point I launched into my Lecture 101 on getting ready in order to have something later.
Begin with pansies. One watches the slight temperature drops for that moment their varied colored faces can brighten the landscape. I like to choose my own. The dark burnt orange are my favorite with the yellow and brown and the brown and yellow (distinctively different presentations) to help fill in with a purer orange and a total yellow for a sparkle. Maybe just two whites so they won’t feel left out. Once in, they are the consistent winter color until warming days return. I’ve even seen them erect and smiling at the world under light layers of snow.
Part of the preparation for the next season is preparing the beds. You do like fresh sheets, don’t you? Daisies and mist flowers die down and need to be pulled out. Sprawling lantana is trimmed back. Echinacea, cone flowers to the common folk, can be dug up and divided to cover more space next year along with the tall green fonds of the day lilies. Weed the whole area, add some fresh top soil. Finally, mulch for warmth and to help hold the moisture.
Depending on your desires, larkspurs can brighten the mix, marigolds clump well, and the bulbs of renuculus, amaryllis, and Easter lilies rest up for a spring showing. By early February, I read seed packets for starting times. Some can be primed indoor six weeks before the last expected frost while others have to be in ground after that nebulous date. At this point in the lecture, the poor young man was confident that a better solutions for the offered gift was the flower shop. I, though, had done the ground work to move on in the year and am confidently waiting with a cup of warm cocoa to welcome the blooms of my labors.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
Let Me Tell Ya 