Winter Garden

There comes a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom - Anais Nin

The garden outside is having a winter's rest,  but inside I still need the blessing of blooms, 

Time to bring some life into the house, 
time for making a merry mess, 
gather the pea gravel, soil, bulbs and pots.

Those tiny fingers of green will soon stretch to become graceful green ribbons, finally topped with fragrant white blossoms.
TIP - for shorter, less floppy stems, a splash of vodka in the water of your Paperwhites , especially at the beginning of their growing period, works wonders!

The wonder of bulbs, the magic of growth!
Sleeping beneath the frozen soil, the perennial Daffodils I planted last Autumn are not nearly ready to spread their cheer . . . .

 . . . .but no worries as the Paperwhite Narcissus are only too happy to share their sweet fragrance inside, bringing with them a promise of Spring to come.

Narcissus Tete a Tete, like warm butter on the window sill

Take the bulb into your hands
Feel the dry skin, the lifeless tangle of roots at the bottom

See the little green finger emerging at the top
Hope, is it hope?

Make a bed of soft soil or small rocks
Tuck the bulbs in with a drink of water
then wait with hope

Days later look at the green sprout, taller now, 
growing towards the light in the kitchen window
It is hope, hope lives


My Winter Wonderland inside, let the ice and snow cover everything outside! I can wait . . . .