I love this time of year. I long to dig in the soil and plant new flowers, shrubs and add to our landscape. To watch the yard transform from it's barren pallete into a kaleidoscope of colors. It's as if its when the new year starts, when life begins again, when hope returns to bring life into things that have laid dormant all winter. This is a time for new beginnings...to remap and change our landscapes. Some may plant annuals, some may plant perennials....some have favorite flowers that they adore and must have in their garden. My favorite flower off all time is a wild orchid, the Pink Lady Slipper. It grows under pines and shaded areas. I first saw one in a trail behind my Grandmothers house that lead to a place we called the Sheep Rock. We often walked back there many a summer's day, to climb the tall rock structure, to steal some fools gold from the creek below and think that we were bringing home treasure. The imaginations we had and the stories we created along the pathway in the woods. When I saw this delicate flower that looked like it was a ballerina slipper and I was captivated by it. I wanted to grow these at my parents house, and I carefully dug it up and brought it home. I planted it in our front yard, but it soon shriveled up and died. I was devastated, and then began to research this plant to learn more about it. I discovered it is not a plant that you can transplant, it grows where it wants to and where it is meant to. It is a wild orchid, it comes each year during spring and only stays a short time, yet can live for over 20 years! It can only grow if a certain fungus helps supply food to the seed inside the orchid. If a bee comes along, it becomes trapped and finding it's only way out, will leave pollen behind. It is a rare and delicate flower, and every time I see one I am taken back to those carefree days of running along a wooded path with my cousins, or my dogs. I remember walking the path and it seemed as if it was endless....If memory serves me right, there was a spot in that you could go left or right...one was longer the other considered shorter but windier. We often would split up and race to see who would reach the point where the two trails would merge. Then you'd come to an opening and you could turn left to go climbing the rock or right to head toward the creek. It was our own secret fort, though others soon found it from the opposite side. Taking the path back home the thick forest seemed to close in at times and you wondered if you'd ever see the light leading home. But we stayed on the path, trusting and hopeful until we saw the opening that meant we had made it. I can close my eyes and in an instant I can hear the earth crackle and pop as I am running down the path. The carefree spirit of spring, to make us feel young and reborn again. Yes, spring has come, and the flowers will be planted, the warm weather will bring barbecues and backyard fun....And as wild and as rare as my favorite flower, the promise of hope surfaces. In the spring we find the strength to push through whatever it is that has kept up held down, to rise up from things that we have no control over, to grow with the changes and find ourselves surrounded by the most beautiful and faithful flowers in our garden....seedlings rise up and take hold, and the birds begin to sing the song of new beginnings. What is growing in our garden, what will you focus on, cultivate and nurture this spring?
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