Some people count the beginning of spring when farmers start sugaring. Up here in Heath the Berkshire Sweet Gold folks have been hard at it for a couple of weeks, but the snow is still deep in the fields and in the woods. It hasn’t looked like spring. Hasn’t felt like spring.
But today the temperatures rose into the 50s and the sun was bright. I stopped at the Greenfield Farmers Coop for some potting soil and admired the violas as they were being set out for sale.
My mother’s name was Viola. I never liked the name very much until I became a gardener. Now I see the first violas in the garden centers and in my garden as a first sign of spring. I see the happy blue blossoms and I think about a mother of three sons looking into the blue eyes of her first daughter, born as winter approaches, and seeing spring, seeing sunny days, and joy. Now I think Viola is a name as beautiful as the flower.
Goodness, they are just getting pansies out here. I must get some of these smiley faces.
Lisa – I can buy violas, but I can’t plant them. I still can’t see bare ground. It’s going to be even warmer today, though.
I LOVE the name viola. Someday you’ll be able to plant them, my dear…….