Ready for the rebirth of spring Frances DeVore Columnist Mother Nature has a way of healing her hurts and lifting our spirits with an intoxicating season called spring. Ni os, El and Las. Babies human, animal and vegetable are born and thrive. Greenup time brings flowers and foliage to hide the wounds of rampaging weather. After the rains come the rainbows.
Snows melt and replenish the rivers and lakes.
Our only problem is that a careless Mother Nature flings her gifts about in ruthless abandon too much rain in many parts of the country, almost none in Florida where the subtropical splendor threatens to become the next sand-shriveled desert. This morning I sit at the table gathering my thoughts as a new day begins and looking out the kitchen door where a lone cardinal inspects a feeder attached to a brand-new deck crowning my secret garden. The Carolina jasmin is blooming, and so are the dogwood and redbuds on the other side of the house. Plants are as confused as our weather has been, with the late winter shrubs like camellias and azaleas blooming right beside spring things eager to claim garden and yard. It's a frustrating time for gardeners with the nighttime temperatures still dipping out of season and water restrictions causing many shrubs and plants to droop on waterless days.