JOY ABOUNDING

The first day out in the garden and the clean-up begins. Some perennials emerge from under the snow like Venus from the sea, fully formed and lovely. It is grand to see the green leaves of the arabis, the lambs’ ears, the bergenia, the Johnson’s Blue geranium and the sea lavender. Not all is joy. Dandelions also thrived under the snow. You have to try and get the entire root when you dig them out.

But other perennials are hiding down there somewhere. Hostas for example are slow to emerge, peonies just poke out pink noses and the delphiniums are lost in the tangle of stalks.

I gently clean away the leaves, stalks and winter debris. If, as the wise old proverb states, “the foot of the gardener manures the soil,” the hand of the gardener can damage the plants especially if you lean on one hand and inadvertently crush an emerging lily nose or a tulip tip. This is why I have flat stones here and there throughout the perennial beds. I can lean one hand on the stone as I reach to the back of the bed with the other hand.

As I work, I have to be mindful each time I set down my secateurs. As every gardener knows, there is a sprite in every garden who steals secateurs, sometimes it seems, right from under your nose. Occasionally, she steals trowels too. Later, you find the tools under a plant, or on the Muskoka chair, or on the back steps but sometimes they appear weeks later, ruined and rusty, in the compost heap.

Beautiful Sarah comes to sweep the sidewalks and plant the begonia bulbs in small pots while I clean out the back shed. I could stay outside all day. The front lawn gets raked, the compost, still frozen of course, gets heaped with dried leaves and stalks, the house sparrows pick up bits of grass for their nests, the Canada geese are flying over, the gulls are wheeling above, a red squirrel whisks along the fence top, the neighbours, out walking, stop by for a chat.