An Offering
The fennel has become an offering to future butterflies. A worthy sacrifice.

The fennel has become an offering to future butterflies. A worthy sacrifice.

The cherry trees are starting to flower–two weeks earlier than an average spring and likely to set a record.
In my own yard, the greens that over-wintered and are newly coming up are suffering from lack of rain and May/June temperatures. Though it is still technically winter, the lowest lows are in the high 40s F in the 15-day forecast. It is still risky to take out the tropicals, though if the 15-day forecast looks the same in mid-April, I will go for it, even though historical last frost is in May.
What cannot wait is planting cool weather vegetables such as snow peas. They still might not thrive if the unseasonable warmth and lack of rain do not level off. But Spring is so early that now is the chance to catch the growing season.
As I can go to the grocery store and the farmers’ market, I could just let the season pass me by, ignoring the realities of the season we are getting.
Much of the reason I garden is to heighten consciousness and connection to nature. If I do not make sudden adjustments the way a farmer would to, then I am missing out on a great opportunity. That meeting the unexpected time constraints imposed by abnormal weather patterns is not in sync with my schedule just highlights the importance of us needing to shift ourselves to be aligned with the great flows of energy.
Enjoy your gardens (strawberries will be early too–i already have some plants starting to form fruit).
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
My friend and former neighbor Robert shared with me his great love and knowledge of tropical plants. When he was still living in DC, he’d call me up and ask me whether I wanted to make a pilgrimage to the now gone Kensington Orchids. The lush beauty took my breath away, especially on a cold, winter day. I have my tropical plants indoors from October/November to April. (I have a very protected, sunny back yard and danger of last frost can be weeks earlier for me than neighbors just outside the District limits. For some, the time outdoors would be shorter.) When I first bring them inside, I get a burst of the tropics right when it is truly showing signs of late fall/early winter. When it is time, in the Spring to start shifting from winter-hardy greens to early planting of seedlings for summer harvest, I bring out the tropicals. My garden, then, is already lush by late April. My garden’s small size is an advantage here; a dozen tropical plants completely transforms the whole garden. I then have room to do Spring cleaning.
Although I generally try to follow the seasons, the use of tropical plants does seem to assist me in weathering the external diminishment of light and warmth in winter.
Caught in the act, and I just admired and took a picture. I will kill invasive insects (usually by squishing them, never with toxic pesticides).

Ahh. “Free the mind.” Free it of ignorance and being stuck in old, tired patterns of thinking—societal, ancestral, and created from our own lived experience. Free the mind to imagine, create, deduce, consider alternatives and choices and cause and effect. Celebrate the mind to free it to enhance our being, individual and communal.
