Winter Gardening

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

May Sarton

I love winter gardening. "What?" say you! "What's there to do in the garden in the winter. Everything is dead." Well, yes, to one's eye it is dead. But in my mind and in my soul, it's just waiting. And to me there's just something satisfying in taking this.... and turning it into this.... My irises are ready. They're cleaned up and ready to bloom. Here's my hydrangea bush. The leaves are frozen and spent. But look at it now. It's ready. Can't you see it's waiting?It's hard to see (well, you can't see, really, but I saw them when I had my nose in the dirt, practically) but there are little shoots of hostas just resting and waiting, too. In the summer, the hydrangea will be blooming, the hostas will be huge (if I can keep them from being eaten by the snails) and the edge of the fern garden will be a riot of red, pink and orange impatiens. But now is a time to rest. And to prepare. And to wait!