Dear Reader:

The signs of early spring are already starting to reveal themselves in my garden and yard in mid-winter. The short nap, for several flowering plants and vines, is coming to an abrupt end….Soon there will be no more extra minute ‘snooze buttons’ to push. It will be time to get up and show the world what they are.

I can almost hear the clock ticking away in the silent garden….all might seem at rest and quiet on the surface, but underneath roots and stems are working overtime to gain enough strength to push through the ground.

Take our beautiful state flower, the Yellow Jessamine. When I went to check on it early yesterday morning the first bright yellow bloom of the season greeted me with a smile.

It was February 1, 1924 when the legislature adopted the Yellow Jessamine as the state flower offering this explanation for the choice.”

“Its delicate flower suggests the pureness of gold; its perpetual return out of the dead winter suggests the lesson of constancy in, loyalty to, and patriotism in the service of the State.” 

*This Monday, February 1, 2016, will mark the benchmark of 92 years since the official adoption! Happy Birthday Yellow Jessamine! Here’s a birthday bag for you!

* And Joan it has been four years since you created this beautiful painting for the cover of the little story I wrote about the state flower. Thank you again for sharing your amazing talent for this project.

The pansies have been getting up early all winter….their rest will come when the temperatures rise. The “rabbit foot” fern must be exhausted….no rest for the weary….it has hung in the Bradford Pear tree branch all winter, even with snow flurries on it and just kept right on rising each morning through the freezing conditions.

One of my new camellia plants has a beautiful little bloom on it….they are small but already up and at’em….no snooze buttons for them. Even the dried mums are still beautiful….now they can rest forever.

The Confederate Jasmine is still growing and clinging to the white picket decorative garden fences. They are the “workaholics” of the garden…every season finds them growing bigger and stronger.

Close behind them on productivity this year are the azaleas…yes, the azaleas. Even with the freezes overnight, we experienced last week, the buds are still trying to open revealing all their loveliness. I am sure the azaleas must be ready to toss the clock away since it buzzes 24/7/. (So I spared them their pictures with the clock.)

So until tomorrow….Here’s to awakening to a new day, my precious garden. It’s time to wake up “children” and bloom where you are planted. Make the most of your time.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Honey looked like a ray of sunshine when she stopped by with soup and sunflowers yesterday, along with the prettiest kitchen towel. She is getting younger and younger…I do believe the secret is in the walking, especially for such great causes as MS.