Not all Springs are equal.

Almost two decades ago a measured thirteen inches of snow fell upon our population center this past week.

Although I am a devoted fan of continued global warming, hoping for horticultural zone 5 to become our Twin City standard,  I’ll take this present Spring’s mood any day of a decade.   We are a bit short of  regular spring waterings, but the temperatures have been quite modest, cool, not cold, ….pleasant, that is.  March and April were kind months with modest northern moods….in fact, in the more than forty years of living in my present location, I judge the Spring which has come to my grounds this year,  to be the most beautiful ever.

Our hardy Magnolias held their blooms earlier and longer.   For the first time ever, the major  flowering trees and shrubs and Spring  perennials  in the front grounds of our Masterpiece gardens  have been all in bloom at the same time.   Some bloomed  much earlier than others, others remaining in bloom much longer.  The earlier and more gentle Spring was primarily  responsible.

Let me provide the list of blooming show-offs in the front garden:   a forty year-old PJM Rhododendron, usually  the first woody in the front grounds  to bloom and the first to pass bloom,  is still filled with color;  the four  mature Juddii Viburnum shrubs bloomed early and are still in fresh bloom;  the youngish Northern Redbud, a seedling transplanted from its arrival  in the back gardened grounds  five or six years ago, usually the latest of the bloomers, apparently jealous of competitors’ radiance, decided to join the Spring party with its spectacular show.   Add too,  the blooms of the Mount Airy Fothergilla, an understory shrub- tree,  the wild perennial Brunnera’s brilliant true blue blooms, Euphorbia polychroma’s brilliant yellow,  its cousin’s weedy but showy maroon foliage,  the stately perennial,  Helleborus,  swaths of white rock cress, the whitest white in town, the  colorful foliaged sedums, the greens of weedy Gigas and   ground covers,  Purple  Pewter Lamium, Sweet Woodruff,  Pachysandra,  Sedum foliage, yellow, green, and mauve, European and Canadian Ginger coverings of  fresh leaves, amidst the sparkling Spring budding of  beautiful  maturing conifers.

A beautifully manicured lawn can, indeed,  be beautiful…..but when visited especially in Spring , neither  it or any  flower garden,  can  inspire the human soul  so profoundly as an every day walk through a well planned northern Spring Landscape Garden.

It is made more precious, by its visit being so short.