{dirt 60631} A Wish for Spring?

{dirt 60631} chronicles Yvonne's garden journey in a Zone 5, Chicago city lot.

There is a rush for Spring to unfold.  To see, once again, something fresh and in bloom.  But at this moment, as the light has changed and the shadows have shifted, there is a beauty in the late winter garden that I should not wish away too quickly.  

I have to remind myself during the garden chores, to stop and admire the garden structure, admire this moment of quiet beauty.  For soon it will be gone, and will be replaced with the fast moving, exuberant charms of the Spring storm.

Now is when the structure of the shrubs, the box and the evergreens, look their best with the flattering light and long shadows of the late afternoon.  From my perch, the view along the southside of the garden is framed in box hedges and focused thru a weeping white spruce (Picea glauca) and a narrow arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire') to a drift of snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) now blooming under the Pin Oak (Quercus palustris).  The late afternoon light intensifies the evergreens and catches the white blossoms of the snowdrops perfectly, making them sparkle and dance above the darkness of the soil like fireflies.  As I chase the sun to prune the crab apples, magnolias and hydrangeas, I must remind myself to make time to take in this fleeting moment ... Spring will arrive soon enough.