KCB is the author of this post and can be found HERE at the Finishing Touches garden website!
First, where did January go?
It must have been one heck of a New Year’s Eve party because it’s almost
the last thing I remember; raising a glass for the old, toasting to the new.
Now, it’s February. February may not be my favorite month yet I’m always happy
when it arrives. I can thank the greed of Julius* and Augustus* Caesar for
making February the shortest month. This just brings us closer to March; the
month of the Vernal Equinox or as we lovingly call it ‘Spring’!
There I go, speaking of the future after a brief visit to the
past. Nevertheless, as a gardener I am constantly looking to the future. I am not alone, am I? To paraphrase
Dr. Allan Armitage ‘There are no old gardeners. …..you can’t
get old when looking forward to the future’.
Hearing these words recently the world suddenly made sense. Ok, a slight
exaggeration, not sure if the world will ever make sense, still the premise
touched me. It is SO true.
Instant gratification is the new normal. We want what we want
when we want it which is usually NOW. Not so with gardeners.
Gardeners aka ‘we’ live for the future. Many start seeds in
the coldest days of winter as they dream of the days they can be sowed in the
earth. Others grow vegetables for future meals. Perennials are purchased with
the anticipation that the will return year after year. A well planned landscape
allows for the transformation that will happen over time. Nearly everything is
performed with the mind on the future. Even the pockets of annuals are placed with
the knowing they will spread as the season progresses. Then we celebrate that
we can by more next summer.
Did you notice that the seed and gardening catalogues arrived
sooner this year? The first of many
arrived a few days before Christmas. Not
sure about you, but I made sure these did not get lost I wanted to save them
for the not too distant future. We want an unhurried moment to put our feet up
and with a beverage of choice we peruse the perennials, analyze the annuals and
become a voyeur of vegetable seed packages not with a longing for tomorrow or
even the day after. It’s all for the
future.
There is one downside with always looking towards the future;
you just may miss a month or two. Guess
I’ll just have to wait until next year to enjoy the month that falls between
December and February. For now, I’ll just look forward to March.
*Julius wanted a
month named after him. He took the seventh month, named it July and all other
months moved down a notch. Wanting a longer month stole a day from February.
When Augustus came along, he wanted a month as well. He couldn’t be ahead of
Julius, so he took the month right after July and named it August. He shoved
the other months down as Julius had done, and another one dropped off the end.
That month had 31 days. Augustus couldn’t be outdone by Julius on the days, so
he took another day out of poor February and added to August. February then had
28 days. Except during leap year. For more information, Google it yourself!
Created for Skillin's by KC Bailey
February 2013
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