All Still To Come

When I lived in London I used to walk to the Tube through Victoria Park. Each year there would be “the day” – that moment when the sun would become warm enough to make you turn your face up to it and the magnolia trees lining the central avenue would burst into bloom. Just before Bethnal Green station there would be a run of daffodils and as I walked along it, every year without fail I would think, “It’s all still to come!”

The transition from winter to spring is always so sudden – especially this year when just a couple of weeks ago, there was a layer of snow over the garden. With an apparent click of the fingers, the mood changes – people smile, the air smells sweeter and the greens become lime and zingy. Everything is suddenly gorgeous! And yet all the fab things about summer – waking up to blinding sunlight, never shutting your back door, long evenings outside the pub, it being warm enough to sit in the garden in the dark - the things you’ve longed for for months on end, they’re all still to come. 

 

I sold my first posies of the year this morning. They were mostly hyacinths (‘White Pearl’, ‘Blue Pearl’ and the scarily bright ‘Jan de Bos’ ) so they were a bit short-stemmed and I could have done with some of the Iceland poppies on the allotment being ready to give more variation, but they smelt wonderful, I am confident they will last well and, most importantly, they sold!

All in all, not a bad start. And remembering what I had growing this time last year – i.e. zilch! – I was pretty pleased with myself.

And on top of that, it’s all still to come!

HOORAH!