Every day I take my inspection walk - down the side of the yard where the woodland garden is slowly coming to be, across the back of the yard where the roses are beginning to form tiny buds and into the secret gardens. With every step I am greeted by something new. New sprouts pushing up through the earth. New buds forming on plants that have yet to bloom in my yard. New leaves in glorious shades of aqua and silver - a color that the shrubs only wear in spring.
Every step is a celebration, a joy.
At least for me. My husband is still waiting for the flowers to bloom. They aren't real to him until that happens. For his sake I am grateful to the lilacs and Oriental poppies, the late daffodils and tulips, the rockcress blooming abundantly in the stone walls, rhododendrons and azaleas that create splashes of brilliance, drawing the eye away from those areas that are still more potential than actual. They will help to tide him over until that one peak day.