Friday, March 11, 2016

Dare we Hope for Early Figs?

Fig trees are leafing out and covered in little baby figs. The oak tree is sporting what looks like a chartreuse veil. Red buds are gaudy and tucked in the back, neglected part of the yard, partially hidden by our guest cottage (I mean, pop up tent trailer), a kerria japonica tries her hardest to grab my attention, and succeeds regularly, as you can tell, since I have sprays of her beautiful blossoms decorating most of the rooms in my house.

Wisteria that was frozen last year is now covered in an extravagant display of fragrant clusters, just poised to open this weekend.

Have you noticed how easy it is to be optimistic in springtime?

The flowers keep shouting and whispering, clucking and whistling to get my attention. "Hey! We did it! We made it through the dark days and can lift our heads up high once again." So I tell them thank you for the reminder, and let them know I am absolutely blown away by their beauty, and am really proud of them. And gather armfuls of sweet joy to bring into the house.

I read a Mary Oliver poem the other day, depicting another side of spring I like very much: Out of the Stump Rot. Not so frilly. Quite raw and real. And also wonderful in its life. So if you are not feeling the flowers and fragrance, check out her poem!

1 comment:

Truthseeker said...

It's been unseasonably warm for early March here in Troutville. I bought some fig plants to see if they would grow here as well as they used to grow at my grandmother's house in Garland, Tx. I remember running and playing in her barn and when we got hungry....going to the corner of the house that had the fig bush, pulling them off and popping the warm juicy bulbs in our mouths, thinking nothing had ever tasted so delicious!