A tease is the first melt of the season. With a month of snow gone, one can fantasize that daffodils, tulips and other greens will soon grow out giving way to cherry blossoms. But it is unlikely. The daffodils, in fact, have started to emerge, their enlarged buds poking through the soil. They will not go much further. With more than two months of winter ahead, our melt is just a respite for more cold weather though we do have a few hints of warmer times in the near future.
The first snowdrops near the furnace chimney have emerged as they do every January or February. They are ready to delicately drop their orbs for viewing before the next snow hits and buries them in a similar blanket of white. A lone purple periwinkle flower not long for the season peeps from the steps near the greenhouse.
Charlotte and I open the cold frame to find some corn salad, claytonia and red leaf lettuce that has regained its moisture all perky and ready to eat. She grabs a few leaves, smiling as she places them into her mouth. Further down the garden, the sorrel has been preserved by the snow with a few fresh shoots poking out from the soil. She takes one adding it to her mouth salad. Juana wants the remaining leeks pulled. I grab a shovel and liberate them out from their refrigerated bed.
The hellebores look as if they are ready to push their flower buds past the surface of the soil. Another few more days of warmth and they might. The kitchen garden’s thyme and parsley smell and look fresh even though they have been snow covered for the last month. The foxgloves and garlic mustard appear as if they are ready to send their shoots up high.
There is much, though, that reminds us that these are false signals. The grass is flat and gray suffering a bit from snow mold. Hosta leaf skeletons lie flat on the ground indicating their former glory. Flower stems poke from the earth stripped of their seeds. Trees and bushes hold tightly onto their buds giving no sign that they are quick to be fooled by a few days of 50 degree weather.
The sun has started to shine bright after two days of dense fog that governed the appreciation of the warmth. Steam seemed to rise from the piles of snow that now longer sit next to the walkway and drive. We are happy for the brief relief from the cold as Charlotte and I take Daisy for a short walk up the street before the next snow makes such a trek difficult.
