Spring Fever

     If the symptoms of spring fever include being easily distracted, less productive, and daydreamy, then I have fallen victim.  I dally over those indoor, mundane tasks of winter, procrastinating and dragging my feet. Why should I have to grade papers and do laundry when the lilacs are blooming? Redbud and cherry blossoms will not wait until I wax the kitchen floor.  The wind will scatter their delicate beauty, leaving me sensory deprived among the dirty dishes.

                The only remedy is to arm myself with rakes, hoes, and garden trowels. It is time to clear out the old, dead growth and uncover the hopeful, green shoots of perennials peeking through the soil. I am always amazed at the faithfulness of those perennials; come weed or drought, these hardy, optimistic plants never fail to show up and try again. Take for instance my backyard lantana.  As soon as frost has subsided, tiny spurts of green begin showing up around the last year’s dead wood. Before summer is over, grand bushes laden with a riot of orange and yellow flowers fill my flower bed. What a lesson in faith and perseverance!

                Now is the time when garden centers beckon and entice. As I troll the aisles, even the names of the flowers and bushes make me wax poetic.  Carolina Jessamine, Rose of Sharon, and Sweet William beg to live in the pages of novels as well as in my yard.  How can I refuse?  I will figure out where to plant them later.

                Yes, as I trudge through days of chores and obligations, my mind is filled with flowering fantasies. I fret over which flowers to plant where and what plants go well together in a container.  I carry a vision of summer’s majesty crowding my sidewalk with an explosion of blooming color.  Spring has a grip on me now, and I am a willing hostage.