We planted 3 new rosebushes, two blueberries, another lilac, and a few pansies. The bulbs planted last fall have been coming up, and I am now greeted on my return home by cheerful tulips, fragrant hyacinths, and sunny daffodils. The brussel sprouts that were planted way too late last fall seem to have survived the winter, and have started growing upward and outward. I'm not usually a fan of baby cabbages, but if these make it after having spent months buried in the snow, I will gratefully cook and eat them. My garlic chives have sprouted out from their bulbs, as well, and soon I will be able to begin snipping them for cookery purposes. I found a packet of nasturtium seeds lift from last year. Later I will find a bit of dirt in which to bury them, hopoing that they too will show forth new life.
I got to the Agway in time this year to buy rhubarb sets. I don't know why they sell out so quickly, but they do. I planted 4 little crowns near the established plant. Growing rhubarb is and act of faith - the crown look like dead twigs and it really seems unlikely that from them will come anything but compost. But have faith, and in due time we will be eating rhubarb yummies.
I remember when I was 14, I came home one day to find that the rose bushes had been pruned right down to the thorns. I was aghast at my mother. How did she expect them to survive with no leaves, even? Be patient, she told me. The next spring, seemingly resurrected from the dead, they were fuller and brighter than ever before. Jesus promised that He'd prune us. I don't expect to enjoy it, but if it is what I need to burst forth in glory in due season, I suppose that I should welcome it, even when it hurts.
