Spring in New England gets going in a big hurry and it seems to induce a mad mad rush to get-it-done-now-! in all of us. But now is also the time to slow down, savor and soak in the transition and enjoy it. The mornings are full of birds, the air is crisp and cool all day, the sun’s warmth doesn’t feel oppressive… I can’t rhapsodize enough about what a dream it’s been to poke around every morning looking for evidence of spring!

I wouldn’t have noticed the Epimediums (barrenwort) shivering in the breeze like a jack russell puppy if I hadn’t crouched down just to look at them (rather than crouching down just to weed around them) in the Rock Garden. And the Trillium nearly reached up with a howdy from behind a rock in the Bosquet when I walked by slowly with my eyes open (rather than in a rush thinking about what’s next). The ferns in the Water Garden which are background beautiful most of the year, are so adorable right now that their fuzzy fists are in a state of uncurl – it seems like you could watch them open if you spent the afternoon quietly sitting in front of the Water Garden TV.

And that’s what I think you should put on your to-do list for this time of year – a quiet sit in a pretty place; a walk in the woods; a visit to someone else’s garden (like Blithewold) for a little rest and recharge in the middle of all the frantic/frenetic activity of a fast spring. It’s too easy to get overwhelmed by everything that has to get done in the garden all-of-a-sudden in the few weeks before blazing summer – and end up getting nothing done! Time spent enjoying a garden without working in it is sometimes all the inspiration needed to get you comfortably and less frantically on track for the season. (I can just hear the sarcastic remarks from our professional gardener friends – “this time of year? time OFF?! oh sure!” But I know I’m not the only one to sneak a moment “off” here and there!)