Enjoy the Fullness of Spring!

As Spring reaches its fullness, we enjoy leaves emerging on our favorite trees, flowers blooming, and sightings of newborn wildlife exploring.  

Even in the dry Southwest where we live, desert brush and cacti are in flower, baby quail, cottontail and jackrabbit race around.  This year a pair of bigger-than-you-would-expect roadrunner chicks are entertaining us as they dart through the sagebrush.  

As a suburban kid in the Midwest, it was the emergence of certain flowers that announced the progress of spring.  Deep purple crocus, yellow daffodils, and red tulips were among the early bloomers.  Then there are clusters of iris with their striking elegance, from the simple, slender deep blue iris to the extravagant bearded iris. 

My mother’s garden was inspired by an English garden in Old Lyme, Connecticut, that she sketched and then convinced my dad to labor on for years, eliminating half of the grass in the backyard. It attracted monarchs and swallowtails, cardinals and robins.  It provided herbs for the kitchen and even included a small fairy garden to entertain grandchildren in the shade of an apple tree.  

Gardens of all types and sizes reflect the amazing diversity of nature, whether a large or small family garden, a potted garden, a community garden, or a botanic garden.  They welcome us into peaceful spaces where we can contemplate nature’s beauty and complexity.

We hope you enjoy spring in its emerging splendor and are refreshed by some llinea™ iced tea (with maybe a mint leaf from the garden).