A Few Days in Mid-February (in zone 8B)

Camellia japonica 'Sea Foam' (a white formal double).

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I was working in my vegetable garden this evening - preoccupied with planting my early spring garden - when I realized t hat it was getting just too dark to see the seeds that I was placing in rows.

It was 6:19 pm and it was 65 degrees.

That says spring to me.

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Today I planted seedlings of cilantro, flat and curly-leafed parsley, and cauliflower - as well as seeds for flat-leafed spinach, carrots (Danvers Half Long), and red russian kale.  I also planted a few more strawberry plants, since miraculously my ones from last spring survived the hot summer in the new (and shadier) location - I am filled with new-found southern strawberry optimism.  Already in the ground are white, red, and yellow onions, shallots, and garlic (all planted last fall) - savoy cabbages (which I need to harvest soon), brocolli (gone to flower, happily), fennel, and collards (all respectful southern gardens must grown collards whenever possible). 

I'd love to find time tomorrow to plant flowering sweet peas, edible-pod peas, a lettuce mix (all from seeds) - and more brocolli (plants).  If I can manage that - I'll be happy (and also because I've found that here in the south, if you don't plant these cool weather crops in February sometime, they rarely do so well - we just warm up much too fast).

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There's just something about a vegetable garden...isn't there?  I don't know if it's because my parents always had one when I was a child (or because they still do) - but I find that both my brother and I have this sense that even amidst crazy times, that if we have a garden going, that things will probably turn out okay.  I've tilled my garden at night, in the dark, using strategically-placed flashlights - I've tilled my garden in the rain.  I've dug up a nest of copperheads while turning over the soil.  Now I just do a combination of 'no-till-hardwork' - lots of mulch (straw, leaves) and a simply hoe.  It works fine - I have crazy-soil, soil that has been described by my mother as 'stuff the rest of the world buys in a bag.' 

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Today is my Mother's 74th birthday. 

She is still in pain (we found out this week that the cancer has metastasized into several bones)  but she managed to enjoy her day inbetween periods of rest - she was surrounded by flowers, cards wishing her a great day (she received almost one hundred birthday cards!), and people that care for her.  I wish I could have been there - but I was there last weekend and will be there again soon.

This is the new reality of a Mother whose cancer is now considered Stage 4 disease.  Everything has changed.

I keep reminding myself that we knew this time would come.  But is anyone truly ready for such news?

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So all weekend I have kept reminding myself to post for May Dreams Gardens Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - and as you might imagine, I've been distracted - with all sorts of things - and haven't gotten to it yet.  Tonight, now I will do it.  When I sat down to look at the images that I've taken over the past few days - it hit me that this was my one year anniversary of participating in this event - which means that I can now go back to mid-February 2007 for a quick and easy comparison of where my garden 'is'.  Last year - there was a heavy frost, but interestingly there were also roses in-bloom, while now only the Mutabilis is starting to form buds (and they're still quite small).  The comparisons will be interesting throughout the year to come.

(My enjoyment of this process of documenting my garden makes me think that I should join Project Budburst - but I simply don't think that now is the time to take on something new). 

It is predicted that our February will be warmer than usual - and this mid-February I find daffodils in bloom (the earlier varieties in the garden's warmer spaces), a few azalea blossoms brave enough to give the world a try, and like last year - the flowers of the decidious magnolia 'Jane' are emerging (they are a favorite).  Oh, and of course camellias...and more camellias.  And a few 'weeds' (that are quite lovely, really).   

When I looked around today - I realized that it would be impossible to deny that spring had arrived - and these images can shout 'spring' far louder than I!

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Comments

[Carol, May Dreams Gardens]

From the looks of all those flowers, it does indeed appear to be spring in your garden, no denying it, right down to that dandelion.

And I agree about vegetable gardens. If you can get your vegetable garden planted, then things will be okay.

Happy Birthday to your mom, almost 100 cards is quite a lot of love and care from family and friends.

Have a good week and thanks for joining in for garden bloggers' bloom day again!

[jodi]

Wonderful, wonderful photos (including of the two canine members of the family.) What can I say about your mother's cancers? Every day is a gift, but that doesn't ease the eventualities or the distress. Having gone through this two years ago with my former mother in law and not long before that with my father (he had Alzheimers, though, not cancer), I do know something of what you're going through...and continue to offer my support across the miles and the ether.
There's something very comforting about putting our hands in soil when we're distressed. It grounds us in more ways than one. I'll hope for good days for all of you ahead.

[Priscilla]

I know how you feel being in zone 8b also. It's so very much spring. I don't have nearly as much blooming as you do. Wonderful pictures. I hope your seedlings grow big and strong.

[Robin]

Your blooms are delightful. Usually a sight like that would make my heart sing, but I only feel sadness right now. I'm really very sorry about your mom.

My m-i-l has Alzheimer's and my mom is in poor health, I try to prepare myself knowing that neither one will have long to live, but there really is no way to prepare for something like that, as you already know.

[The County Clerk]

Gosh,

That Sea Foam Camellia... all other thoughts fade.

[Mike]

I'll keep your mother and you in my thoughts. I'm sorry to hear that she is in pain. That's something my sister was spared from.

[Kate R]

Those pure white camelias are my favorite. I am not ready for spring. I am still lamenting the fact that we have had only 2 inches of snow this year. I want A SNOW DAY before I go to spring...the Philly Flower Show is just around the corner though, and that will certainly jump start my enthusiasm...

[layanee]

Pam: You have so much planted in the vegetable garden! Wow! I am so impressed! It seems that your brother was an early birthday present for your Mom! Happy birthday to her. Love all your blooms! There is no denying spring in your garden. The white camellia at the beginning of the post is purity personified!

[Kim]

Happy Birthday to your mother... and I wholeheartedly agree with you about the optimism of a vegetable garden. Probably something inherent in our genetics, knowing that some needs (food) will be taken care of.

The blooms are wonderful... and this will sound funny, but I can't tell you how much it thrilled me to see the bugs on some of these flowers. Garden life! :)

By the way, is that a 'Geranium' daffodil just below The Dan?

[Pam]

Carol: It is my pleasure. I like the tradition of this day - regardless of what I have to do, in the back of my head is 'I've gotta photograph the garden!' and that's a good thing!

Thanks Jodi. It is a challenging time, and a new experience for our family - which has been so fortunate. The distance is the most difficult part - and it sounds like you have some experience with that.

Thank you Priscilla - and here it has been spring, and this week we are supposed to get down to the upper 20s! Yikes, not good - but this always happen and the garden blinks for a minute, and then spring resumes. I can't complain.

Robin, it sounds like you are having a tough time of it too. It's hard, isn't it? I'm trying to keep some 'normal' aspects of my life going, but it's getting more and more difficult. I hope all goes well for you and your family.

County Clerk - it's a seductive one, isn't it?

Mike, it was a tough ten days of trying to get her pain managed. Things settled down this weekend, thankfully - she's on a new patch and the patch seems to be keeping her more level with respect to pain. It's hard from a distance - and I'm glad that your sister was spared this part of it. It is now in my mother's bones, and from everything I have read, bone cancer is quite painful. I hate seeing my mother in pain, much less not being able to be there to help.

Kate R: Geez, you guys have had almost no snow this year! That's craziness. Snow is good.

Layanee: You always have such a gorgeous vegetable garden - mine is small compared to yours (plus, spring is our main season - by the time summer hits, it is too hard to keep many things going - I fear that I'm a bit late planting a few things for my zone, and if you miss that window, it is hit-or-miss whether things do well).

Kim, I liked seeing the insects too - the one tiny spider stayed on that one daffodil until it faded (or at least I think it was the same tiny spider). As for the other daffodil - I don't think it was a 'Geranium' - it was one that my mother gave me from her garden a few years ago, and that was not one of the varieties I remember her mentioning.