You see them peeking through slots in cardboard boxes, and piled on wooden racks this time each year, the brightly coloured seed packs, and flower photos blooming on bags of bulbs. To a gardener these are more then just pretty packages, they are the promise of spring that will be followed by summer.
They are hopes, and dreams, and admirations of beauty. Of times spent reflecting on a day in the garden, the gentle ache of newly wakened muscles, and dirty hands. Of the joy in finding that first flower bud on a new plant. Of seeing a fresh shade of green, and the banishing of the brown winter blahs. Of conversations with neighbours over fences, and the smell of newly cut grass, as children’s voices in play scatter like a dandelion seeds into the breeze.
Those packages offer a glimpse of glorious moments when the summer sun has gone down, and the luminous glow of the flowers still remains in the fading light. When the cold drink in your hand has formed droplets that fall onto your skin, and you realize that summer is truly here. And you believe for that moment that it will last forever, that this time, it won’t leave…
The bulbs may be packed in plastic, but they are sprinkled with hope, doused with creativity, and watered with imagination. They are there to banish the snow that lingers like a unwanted guest, to dispel the grey skies, and bring joy to a otherwise bland month. They are promises in a package, and they are so much more then just a pretty picture to a gardener. They are spring, turned into summer.