Hyacinths are sign of spring

My hyacinths are beginning to bloom. Their sweet scent perfumes the house. I had started them in glass jars after Christmas from bulbs my husband gave to me. The orbs resided in the refrigerator until recently. I have begun taking them out, one at a time, so they can brighten the last of the cold winter days. Part of the fun of growing them is to see what colors my husband chose. So far I only have pink ones.
The warmer weather of last week made me want to go outside and play in the dirt. But it is far too early for that. So I will content myself with amassing seeds for this year’s garden. If you haven’t done it already, it is almost too late to order from those tempting catalogs that arrived shortly after Christmas. The selection in the stores isn’t quite as extensive as that in the colorful publications. Few places carry all 64 different types of tomatoes or 35 different kinds of peppers that were featured in one of the catalogs that appeared in my mailbox.
Now is also the time to begin planning the layout of the garden. A cold winter day is perfect for imagining that this will be the year that everything we plant will not only come up, but will look like the pictures in the magazines. The fact that this has never happened before is totally irrelevant.
The beautiful sunny day compelled me to walk over to the river to see if all the melting snow and the smattering of rain had caused the river to rise. The muddy water was flowing rapidly, but it was well within its banks. I breathed a sigh of relief. I have no desire to live through another flood.
Then I toured the flowerbeds. Tiny yellow points of crocuses, rounded tips of daffodils and the miniscule frilled green edges of tulips were all tasting the chilly air. Most of the other flowers were still fast asleep underground.
Our cherry tree should be happy this year. I noticed that the local rabbits have applied lots and lots of natural, organic fertilizer. They haven’t limited themselves to the cherry tree but that seemed to be their favorite spot. This surprised me as most of their tracks were in the backyard, far removed from the cherry tree. Perhaps the bunnies were also surveying the flowerbeds in search of a snack.
While I was outside I took the opportunity to trim a broken branch off of our burning bush. It had been broken for awhile but because of all the snow, I couldn’t get to it until now. There is a lot more trimming to be done but I think I’ll wait until more of the snow disappears. Now is the perfect time to plan which branches need to be trimmed. Just remember to wait until after the flowers fade before trimming spring blooming shrubs. It won’t hurt the plant to trim it now, but you will sacrifice blooms.
After all the bitter cold we’ve had this year, it felt wonderful to go outside. The sun was warm and rejuvenating. Thanks to my walk around the property, I have a long list of chores for the next time the weather warms up. First on my list is to scrape a bunch of gravel off the sidewalk. I’m not sure where it all came from. I assume the snowplows left it there.
There are trees to trim, the ever-present weeds to pull, spent growth to remove, trash to pick up; the list is endless. The hyacinths will eventually wither and after the soil thaws the bulbs will be tucked into any empty space I can find in the flowerbed. Forcing them disrupts their biological clock and sometimes they come up the following fall instead of spring. Sometimes they figure it out and will thrive in subsequent years, sometimes they die. It is all part of the cycle of life.
For now, I will cherish the cheerful clusters of florets and embrace the heady fragrance that tells me that soon the weather will get warm for more than a few days at a time. My hyacinths are blooming, can spring be far behind?

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