Ice Garden

Guess what I received by mail yesterday?  A dazzlingly cheerful gardening magazine, sporting titles:  “Grow Your Own”, “Special Gardening Issue”, “It’s Time to Get Planting”.  Are they joking?  Walking in my yard today means wading through hip deep snow or navigating the crust in my snowshoes.

And what else arrived?  The latest issue of a garden tools catalogue, enticing with its garden implements for any potential need or desire. I could order some extra digging shovels and garden rakes to use for roof snow removal.

I appreciate optimism however the only signs of Nature’s growth and splendour at my house are these ice fangs. These babies are over 4 feet long, melting and freezing to this outstanding length in mere hours.

Winter is still exquisite but I dream of sun struck daffodils, warmed crab apple blossoms fragrant and buzzing with new life, impossibly merry birdsong…and no snow.