This could be taken two ways: I miss Spring, the season, in that it really isn't here yet, or, I probably won't be around my home this year when Spring comes and thus will miss the start of the season. I am meaning the second part here. In the three plus years we have lived in this house, I have been diligently planting spring flowers. The first year, in my misunderstanding of the British countryside and wildlife, I planted around 100 tulips, all of which made the local deer quite happy and me quite miserable because I ended up with 3 stalks and 2 tulip flowers at the end of it all. While I was exclaiming proudly to my new neighbor, who had great experience in this matter, she informed me that the tulips would not see the light of day as the deer would eat them all. Yep. At least I had also planted daffodils and some lilies and those all grew and were lovely.
So each year, I planted more and more daffodils and added crocus, more lilies, and anything else that looked like it might be unappetizing to deer (getting the lowdown from my neighbor). I say, "I planted" as if I did the actual work but the house came with a gardener and I would get the bulbs and he would plant them where i said, "they would look good there, don't you think?". Of course, he always agreed with me. And more and more bulbs went into the ground.
As the house garden came already planted with some lovely rhododendrons, various grasses, some of which flower, some camellias, some fuchsia, some azaleas and a couple of lone rose bushes, my garden was looking more and more lovely each spring. Plus there are plenty of different varieties of green bushes around and some red bushes, black bushes and other stuff that my gardener knows but I still have no clue. Now I have to ask my gardener "Is there room" and I have not purchased any new bulbs for this year other than some tulips (yes 20 tulips - all in netted pots so no deer can eat them).
So Spring comes, starts early, green shoots start coming through the ground, all over the garden, sometimes a bit early and then get covered with snow again, but they keep coming. As we walked around the garden this weekend, I realized that almost all my daffodils have pushed through the ground. The crocus are about to burst into bloom. The rhododendrons and camillas and several other bushes have plenty of buds, and the roses are retaliating as well. My garden is so dang beautiful when all these flowers bloom.
And then it hit me. We are going on holiday soon - a slightly longer than usual holiday - actually leaving my daughter at home for once, instead of the other way around when she jaunts off to work in Africa and leaves us behind. AND there is a very good chance that I will miss the blooming of the garden in a big way! I am sure that everything will not bloom and die during the time we are gone but I am also fairly sure that most of the daffodils and crocuses will be up and well on their way to being gone by the time we return. How sad for me!!!
Spring is such a joyous time here because it comes after such nasty winters, whether there was a lot of snow and rain or just cold weather. Everyone here loves Spring. You can hardly get into one of the local DYI stores or gardening stores because everyone is there getting ready for Spring. When we lived in Houston, wasn't such a big deal. There were flowers blooming all year-long so nobody was overly excited for Spring. But HERE, it's a lovely occasion to celebrate the season, watch the glorious colors and plants come to life in your garden, shake off the winter doldrums, and start being outside a lot more. I have fallen into this category of being delighted when spring arrives but this year I will be in the tropics, in a rainforest, and not staring at my garden, just delirious with joy at all my daffodils and crocuses and tulips and rhododendruns and such. Not the best of planning on my part. Well, luckily, we will probably be here for next year's spring as well. I think I'd better go get some more bulbs.
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