impatient on the last day of winter

Growing up in Waco, I learned quite early the power of books to take me to other places. I am unsure whether that was as much from a need to escape to another place as it was simply enjoying other places more than the one I was in.

Gardening is like that for me. It takes me away to places I like to be. Even thinking about gardening. If I am sitting in the dentist's chair, and the whirling sound of his drill starts its whine, I close my eyes and picture a simple plant, its blooming, its texture, its place next to other plants. And then I relax a bit.

Looking outside this morning at a gray, cloudy sky, I am grateful for Zathan's garden blog. Its proprietor gardens in South Austin, a few blocks from where I used to garden, and his blog is a testament to his patience and delight in observing, tending and talking about his garden.

Short of images, I've been envious of his photo of a blooming Texas Mountain Laurel, that hardy and slow-growing shrub/tree that flourishes among the rocky soils and heat of that part of the world and that does smell, as he points out, like grape bubble gum when it blooms.