Thursday, May 19, 2011

"It no sooner comes than it is gone."

"I feel a little fluttered in my thoughts, as if I might be too late. 
Each season is but an infinitesimal point. It no sooner comes than it is gone." 
- Henry David Thoreau, Journal, June 6, 1857

Spring in the garden has overwhelmed me this year. It's almost as though it's been happening on fast forward, as in a speeded up time-lapse video.  The New Dawn rose was a riot of blooms and suddenly most of those petals are on the ground.  The amaryllis buds appeared overnight - multiples of them - and just as quickly all but two have bloomed and faded.  The clematis vine grew to cover the trellis with blooms and yet now the vine is bare.  The azaleas are covered in faded dried blooms, and the irises are spent.  I forgot to mark these misfit purple and white irises that need to be moved and now have no idea which they were (though maybe this photo will help).

And such is life, isn't it?  Sometimes the moments are crammed so full that we just can't soak it all in the way we'd like - and then those moments are past.  We want to freeze time - and we try to do just that with our photographs.
In the midst of this Spring rush I was given a gift - a sunny morning just after a soft rain had fallen when I had a few minutes without a task list or a place to be.  The angle of the light, the birds, the blooms, the fragrance in my garden - the combination of all of those elements made it feel as though I'd stepped into another world - a fairyland almost.   Time slowed for those few minutes, and the raindrops made everything seem fresh and new.


Though the height of Spring has passed, the void left by those faded blooms is quickly being filled by summer favorites.  Daylily and hydrangea blooms began appearing this week, and already the Sunburst gaillardia is in full bloom. 

The hummingbirds seem to be here to stay and the hot lips salvia is providing them with plenty of nectar.


Verbena on a stick will continue reaching for the sky.  Lantana and zinnia blooms will attract the butterflies and the one bloom on the Creme Brulee Coreopsis will turn into many.  The pastel shades of Spring will be replaced by the hot colors of summer.  And life will slow down a little. . . .I hope.

21 comments:

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

I'm green with envy over your blue Hydrangea! An absolute fave of mine. I've tried to grow them here but they bloom pink in my alkaline soil. :((

Sue said...

And I'm green with envy over your blooms-period! Boy, am I late up here in the north. My daffodils are just finishing up.

Cat said...

I love how you've described the fleeting moments of spring moving into summer. What a gift to have a few quiet minutes in the sunny, rain soaked garden...a lovely way to start the weekend.

HolleyGarden said...

Your post so eloquently spoke what I have been feeling. Everything's gone so soon. Too soon. And yet, there are other blooms to take their place. Still, it would be nice if time could slow down a bit more.

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

I was just sulking a little in our herb garden as the thyme and sage flowers are fading. They've put on a fabulous early spring show, delighting the bees, but I can tell their best is done. However, as you point out, there are many more spring and summer blooms waiting in the wings. Your daylilies look beautiful, and I know the hot lips sage will be around for some time yet. Like you, I'm also hoping summer will slow down...I'd forgotten how busy Spring gets!

Donna said...

How interesting that you are sad that spring has gone and ours is just finally arriving and flying past as well..I have to be fast to catch photos of plants that quickly bloom and others who are so slow...lovely photos

Beth at PlantPostings said...

Oh, I hear you on the time-lapse thingy! My Ferns went from fiddle-heads to unfurled in four days. Seriously. Your photos are incredibly beautiful, Ginny. And your blog gets better every time I visit.

Jeannie B. said...

I feel exactly like Thoreau!! And usually fluttered in my thoughts regardless the season!

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

Your garden is months ahead of mine and even though those flowers have ended there is so much to look forward to and so many new things in flower already.

I would love to be able to grow Hot lips as a perennial here but alas it's only an annual here along with verbena on a stick LOL - I love that description. I just planted my verbena yesterday and they are just a little clump of leaves for now.

GRACE PETERSON said...

Beautiful photos.

Alistair said...

All those beautiful Spring flowers which you mention are Summer flowering plants here in Scotland, should start to open in about three weeks time. Lovely photos on your post.

Pat said...

Wow lots of color !!
Can't wait till summer to have some of your blooms.

Anonymous said...

Your Spring is whisking by by seeing the day lilies. Your images of the garden blooms are beautiful, the hydrangea being a favorite of mine. Here, Spring took really long to come and the May showers continue.

Karen said...

Oh, how I agree with this post. Time is just flying by. I would love to slow it down just a little to savor the beauty of the season. Your garden is so pretty.

scottweberpdx said...

Love that purple/white Iris...so lovely! The Verbena is one of those plants I seem to cram in wherever there is room...it always ads such a nice spot of color to the garden.

sweetbay said...

Spring is like that isn't it ~ such a riot of activity and it goes so fast. I wish it could stretch on for months.

Carolyn ♥ said...

Ginny your post is so well written. You have a gift, my dear. Our Spring has been so cold and wet, I don't really mind, I just need a little sunshine to coax a few more blooms.

Jan said...

Ginny, You captured spring so well! It sneaks up on us and is gone in a flash! It is filled so full of blooms and beauty and then, bam...it's gone! My garden was just like that. Now the summer blooms are coming in here, too...although you are a bit ahead of me as my hydrangeas and lilies haven't opened up just yet. But that feeling of wanting to freeze time is just how I feel...it all goes by WAY TOO FAST!

Wife, Mother, Gardener said...

Ginny,
I feel like I am racing around with my camera trying to snap it all up before it is gone! There is so much in each moment of our days that is effervescent... nothing lasts forever.

Thanks for taking the time to enjoy what is outside your door & share it for the rest of us! Enjoying things slows time down.

Thanks!
Julie

Anonymous said...

And that's why we appreciate so much each moment that God gives! :)

I have those misfit irises too...and last year I forgot to mark them also, so they were a happy surprise. Hot lips salvia is so pretty!!!

Anonymous said...

Ginny, I feel like this spring has lasted forever because of the cold wet weather we have had. But I know what you mean, once the hot weather comes (this week for us) everything rushed by. Carolyn