The reports of emerging spring ephemerals in Germany and colorful Camellias in Madeira are hard to ignore. Contrast that with the recent blast of arctic air that rolled over us here in Chicago. Our rain garden is still in deep hibernation and blooming spring ephemerals still seem somewhere in the distant future.
What I have at my disposal is a trip down memory lane, to stretch that little bit of sanity that is left until we are finally blessed with the elusive spring warm up.
I wrote about the timid progress on our parkway rain garden during the 2017 season. It took until late summer before we got some substantial growth. The 2018 growing season in contrast was significantly more productive and richer in diversity, colors and textures.
I have mentioned before that we have two schools down the street from us. Once school lets out, we have kids flying down the street with an impressive amount of raw and wild energy. It reminds me a lot of my younger self and the extraordinary resilience of my parents!
If it wasn’t for the fence, the rain garden would have been bulldozed many times over by the sheer volume of little feet. But even the fence is sometimes not enough of a signal or barrier.
When I perched myself on our front porch just before the end of the school day, I could catch the pairs of feet that prefer running across sedges and asters versus the concrete sidewalk.
I was often amused by the interaction that pursued: It starts with the big eyes of someone that got caught. I strike up a conversation. I ask questions. I share a few facts about a plant or a flower, but I don’t lecture. Usually at this point I get the “deer in the headlights” stare. The little mind behind the eyes is racing, trying to process why they are not getting yelled at.
Aspects of our conversation appear to stick. At a minimum, the minds that are connected to the little feet remember our exchange for the next few weeks. One step up from the minimum would be if I left an impression and generated curiosity about the rain garden. And in the best case scenario, I got through to the little minds and created allies. Allies that start telling off their friends the moment they try to climb the knee fence.
Gardening is not just for the soul or mind, it is community.