To Spring

My ivory helleboros

We may be staring down the barrel of a possible Nor' Easter, but Spring can't be turned back. Out in the yard there are stirrings: while it seems to me that the daffodils were slow to get going, and the tulips are reluctant to open their cups, the crocuses have spent themselves and the helleboros is already yawning. The red spear-like shoots of peony and the large circular crowd of hostos tips have already emerged; hydrangea buds are swollen, and creeping jenny sprouts have resurrected from the nodes of last year's growth. In my yard, helleboros is the de-facto herald of spring. They are the first ones out of the box, sometimes even before the last frost. I have two colors - ivory and purple. They are in full bloom and will remain so right through the summer. As usual, I am reluctant to touch anything in the yard for fear of removing something important. Which is not to say that I have a spectacular garden - only one whose every little inhabitant is of interest to me. I remember the first spring I was here, my neighbor came to help me do some weeding. In her zeal, she cut my peony shoots down to the ground. Oops. I cringed and bit my tongue. She has made amends with tomato and petunia seedlings by the handful every spring since. This spring, my most anticipated guests are the columbines (one deep plum with pink, one pure white) and the calla lilies (deep plum and pink varieties) which I planted last year. 
The columbines appeared just last year and I hope they'll be back. Aside from these, I hope for an interesting assortment of weeds, and couple of new hatchlings from the birdhouse which is already coiled inside with dry twigs and feathers, and has sheltered three crops of eggs since I put it up.
Here's to spring, here's to life.

blue wild flower