Bloom Day - and a Very Welcome One at That

This month's Bloom Day finds me distracted.  Changes at work are well on the way to putting more demands on me than I am accustomed to, but fortunately, early signs indicate the store will have a good spring season.  The other thing on my mind is more recent, that being the unfolding horror in Japan.  But what can we do besides donating what we can, keeping strangers a world away in our thoughts and hoping to God that a different pair of dice never roll in our direction at such magnitude? Perhaps time in the garden, working with and seeing another face of nature, is called for as well.

Usually spring unfolds slowly here, but this winter's cold has delayed the early bloomers and pushed them back so they now compete with more timely blooms for attention.  No matter, they are all welcome sights.

Here are a few Narcissus, some of the names are known, some are not.

Forsythia x intermedia ('variegata' ?)


I think this is Narcissus 'Ice Follies' and behind it the most florific Hime Quince (Chaenomeles 'Hime'), which has had blooms on it since December.

Helleborus orientalis

Edgeworthia chrysantha


The flowers on Camellia japonica 'Nuccio' Gem' briefly approach perfection.

The intense pink of Camellia japonica 'Crimson Candles' is not my favorite color, but it is a good foil for the emerging foliage of Hydrangea macrophylla 'Sun Goddess' at its feet.

I am not the only one in the house suffering distractions.  When she is not in the coma-like sleep of older dogs, Loretta barks at whoever and whatever passes by the dining room window.  It would be more restful to the entire house if she was just quietly appreciating the beauty of Camellias.

If you would like to see how spring is unfolding in other blogger's gardens, then please visit Carol at May Dreams Garden where she faithfully hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of each month.  Speaking of dates, there are only 4 days left for bloggers to participate in my prize-laden Winter Walk Off.  Just click on the link to learn more.

Turtles All The Way Down

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever", said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

A version of this story was relayed by Stephen Hawking in the opening of his book A Brief History of Time.  It makes me think how difficult it can be to consider the infinite connectedness of everything from the most minute to the most vast.  How does a shift deep in the earth and under the sea impact what is the most prepared and one of the most technologically advanced people on the planet.  And if an earthquake does this to a place more ready and more practiced than any other, what does this mean for those that are not paying attention to things that could happen, be it an act of nature or an act of man.

I have been thinking about turtles, and other things, since last Friday when I found the little guy in the picture while working in my parents garden.  He (or she) is a Diamond Back Terrapin, and judging from it's size must have hatched last year.  What puzzled me was why this fragile little creature was in the driveway on such a cold March day.  I would have more expected to see it crawling around in warmer weather, and according to what I have read about them, it should have itself buried in the mud somewhere waiting for spring.  At first I thought the terrapin was dead, but it stirred slightly when I lifted it, so I moved it to the pond's edge.

Perhaps the old lady was right, and somewhere deep under the earth a small turtle stirred in its slumber.  Whether one believes in myth, science or God's infinity, I would likely find little comfort in either facing such disruption, devastation and loss as occurred today.  It could be that our increasing connections make the world feel smaller, but it seems that we are having days like today more frequently.

My mind appears to be all over the place, so maybe I need to get my hands dirty and lose my self in the garden.