The Absent Uncle: Blooms

Remember the old childhood playground rhyme? 

“Spring has sprung, the grass has riz,

I wonder where the flowers is?

Oh, there you are, you blooming idiot!” 

Whether you are in Brandon, S.D. or Houston, Texas, the flowers are just blooming crazy. 

Spring is just such a special time. Winter has passed. The cold and uncomfortable nights and mornings; and suddenly from nowhere are these wonderful colors. Some of them we plan by planting or buying, others spring from last year with unbridled brilliance.

We had a bit of a freeze in the Houston area this last February. I am partial to Hibiscus plants and was dismayed that my plants looked like cooked spinach one morning last February. Cut them back (too early per the know-it-all-lady in the neighborhood) hoping they would come back and all but one is sprouting new growth. I can’t wait to see the colors of the blooms later this summer. I bought some new ones to augment the old plants and tried to get a good mix of old and new. 

Getting back to spring, being an old farm boy, spring was a pretty big deal. Like this year, sometimes spring came late. Planting delayed with the hope that the growing season would be sufficient with a late frost for a good crop.  

Farmers start with a prayer in their hearts and a lot of salt in their belief that this will be a good year. I watched my dad and realized I didn’t have that “salt” to see it through every year – but I have the greatest respect for those folks that make that gamble every year. Bless you.