At the end of August a sister who is a keen and knowledgeable gardener moved into my community house. Arrivals and departures always have their effect: in her case, our garden is probably grateful to be back in expert hands, after a couple of years of being maintained in a somewhat less skilled manner. Yes, we planted and pruned, and our herbs certainly flourished, as did some tubs and pots I nurtured, but we can see the difference - and I'm sure the garden can feel it!
Over the past month or so the sister has been preparing the garden for winter. Or rather, she's been preparing it for the harshness and dying of winter, for frosts and bitter cold - but with the new life and mildness of spring in mind. So she's been weeding, pruning and cutting back, taking cuttings, preparing the soil, planting bulbs and sowing seeds. The nasturtiums and honeysuckle I'd got and haphazardly nurtured are now happily transplanted, the sunflower harvested for its seeds. The garden looks tended, quietly ready and prepared.
My own contribution to all this has been pretty minimal: I transplanted my toad lily - currently little more than a few straggly leaves - from its trough into a raised flowerbed, and I've just planted these layered bulbs. They're nicely buried and hidden, awaiting nature's secret magic. And there's a quiet excitement in all this; a sense of anticipation. All being well, in a few months' time the toad lily and nasturtiums will begin to grow and to cascade down the flowerbed's side, while three layers of bulbs will push through in their own cheery, colourful primaveral relay.
And it occurs to me there's a lot about life, the state of our country and our world right now which speaks of winter, of harshness and biting cold; so much shrivelling and shedding and dying. But there is always the hope - and indeed the certainty - of spring; of mildness and warmth and burgeoning, blossoming, unfurling new life. And the mystery of spring's quickening is that so much of this new life begins in winter, buried deep in darkness, hidden and unnoticed, beyond our awareness. Indeed, it has already begun...
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