Thursday, May 3, 2018

It’s exciting to see things coming up again, plants that you’ve had twenty or thirty years. It’s like seeing an old friend.

Tasha Tudor, The Private World of Tasha Tudor

This is our fifth spring back in Canada; retired, and seeing things through the lens of a different life. This is the fifth spring of seeing the columbine come up in my small front flower bed. Columbine: that invasive plant I did my best to eradicate from my garden in Washington, but that I’ve reached a wary truce with here.

Left to itself it becomes greedy, stealing space meant for other plants. I keep a watchful eye to make sure it doesn’t overstep, ruthlessly pulling rogue shoots. Like many things in life, moderation and balance are key.

I sit on the ground with my camera, shifting position and getting in close.

There is magic in that little bed and it changes from day to day: crocuses long gone; daffodils almost done; fragrant, bright,  and beautiful hyacinths waning;  tulips with no flowers thanks to the hungry deer; and tiny grape hyacinths almost ready to bloom. The lilies are up, as are the echinops, and other bits of greenery will reveal their identity in good time.

I see buds on the columbine, the promise of whimsical flowers that are sweet in small numbers, and lean in to capture some images.

Bulbs that bloom and take nourishment from the sun, then sleep, only to return after the cycle of heat, cold, and gradual warming repeats. Cosmos and calendula that self seed and multiply; now, just a memory, but sure to be a tangled mass of colour in a few months. Perennials, like the columbine, that go dormant in the winter and return like promises in the spring.

All this wonder, a beautiful illustration of the One who created it all and the promise of eternity. I take photos, examine closer the changing and magical world in my little flower bed, and ponder the wonder of the Creator. A peace falls.

And it is so very well.