Spring Equinox

[poliphilo]

Winter always goes on just that little bit too long.

I don't hate winter. I like snow and bad weather and Christmas tree lights.

And the winter stars. I love the winter stars.

But there always comes a time when I've had enough.

And it's always several weeks before winter finally packs it in.

But here's the Spring Equinox at last. Yesterday wasn't just mild, it was hot. Walking down the street, we passed a tree full of cock sparrows all flapping and pecking and skriking at one another. I guess love was in the air.

And today I looked into the back yard and saw a hen blackbird with moss in her beak go dodging into a clump of honeysuckle and ivy.

Nest-building. Yay!

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Do you understand why it's the Spring Equinox today, rather than tomorrow? I thought it was always March 21st? *puzzled*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think, strictly speaking, the Equinox runs from dusk to dusk, taking in the night of the 20th and the day of the 21st

[dadi.livejournal.com]

I looked it up and it was "exactly" today at 12.35 GMT!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess that must be the time the sun actually reaches the equator

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I find it useful to have "preparing for spring" rituals that tide me over the winter -- although, like you, I enjoy some winter, especially for the coziness it brings.

My rituals involve wintering over tender perennials indoors -- I think of my home as an ark in a sea of cold, and the plants come in two by two so that if one succumbs to the household conditions the other might possibly survive.

Another ritual involves cutting greens for Christmas that may root in water -- my big three are rosemary, dusty miller, and a broadleafed evergreen that may be a Japanese holly. I can watch them for rooting progress and then pot them up.

Here in Philadelphia, as you know from reading my Livejournal now that we're on each others' Friends lists, we have the Flower Show in early March, which is another thing to look forward to. This year I looked at beautiful displays of flowering bulbs forced by an enthusiast and realized I could probably do the same thing on a more modest scale by potting them up in fall and leaving them in our unheated back house, then bringing them in and putting them under my basement grow lights. (Forget windowsills; they're all full of holiday cactus, coleus, and rosemary.)

I envy you a back yard that has a clump of honeysuckle and ivy. And blackbirds, too. All we have in the way of wildlife are English sparrows (finches, actually), pigeons, and rats. Oh, yes, and the occasional squirrel.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I am looking forward to window box pictures, Laura!

Your garden thoughts have often given me moments of green pleasure in the middle of this gray winter.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I am looking forward to window box pictures

Well, here's hoping they live up to all of my hype. Last year, the weight of the hanging stuff pulled them right off their brackets a couple of times.

Your garden thoughts have often given me moments of green pleasure

That would be green as in "plants" and not green as in "envy," I hope! For me, the trick is to focus on the possible. There's always some greenish thing that one can do as long as one has a windowsill -- consider the Victorians and their gallant aspidistras. Fluorescent lights sustain foliage and, for some plants, even blooming. I've had impatiens seedlings come into bloom under plain old non-grolite fluorescents. When all else fails, a small flowering plant from the supermarket or the Wal*Mart can be a fine mood lifter.

My grand scheme for the dark days of 05-06, as I mentioned elsewhere, is bulb-forcing. Surely it can't be too terribly hard.

Perhaps later today I'll liberate my catalpa tree from the crisper in the fridge (speaking of forcing and keeping things cold).

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I meant "green" as in growing things.

I have been outside raking away the very last pine needles and oak leaves from my front beds and found my

- clematis vine is leafing out
- shamrocks are making nice green healthy clumps
- Lenten roses (white and pink) are in full bloom
- Japanese bloodroot has leafed out and will soon have its shy white flowers in the deep shade
- tulips about to bloom
- forsythia is blooming; so is spirea and flowering quince

Hooray! I will be outside from now on, starting early and staying late, coming in for tea at lunchtime.

At last.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Our backyard is very, very small. It consists of a paved path, one long narrow bed- in which the ivy and honeysuckle are rooted and one rectangular bed (formerly the site of a shed) in which we have a couple of holly bushes, a eucalyptus tree and a number of smaller shrubs.

The path is choked with tubs and there's only the narrowest passage through.

Like you we have a host of indoor plants. Mainly cactus.

I love that idea of the house as "ark in a sea of cold".

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Spring at last! Hooray! I thought, four weeks ago, that it would never be warm or pleasant outdoors again.

Birds are everywhere, and chickadees are building a nest in the green birdhouse out front (I saw one going in and out yesterday).

Nest-building and bird-singing: I love it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I noticed just a few days back that the birds were suddenly making a whole lot more noise.

This is a much surer sign of the arrival of spring than the mechanical recurrence of the equinox.

YOu probably won't see this

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

It's been snowing here all day. Great big silver dollar sized flakes.

The prediction was for freezing rain, so I guess we'll take the snow.

Hey...did you start Bridges yet?

Re: YOu probably won't see this

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I haven't started it yet.

But we're going down south to visit relatives on Wednesday and I figure it's exactly the right thing to read on the train.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

Still hasn't hit Scotland properly :(