Tuesday, February 08, 2005

mid-winter

Last week, the cold stopped for a bit, bringing temps up to the 40s and 50s(F), unseasonally warm for this time of year in Indianapolis.

We had an ozone warning, something that has never happened before in the winter. The air was too still, and one could see the brilliantly colored setting sun, filtered by the haze of winter smog, its coral orange perfectly round but muted. There is a passage in Don DeLillo's comic novel, White Noise, where the midwesterners in his story discover unbelievable sunsets, the results of a toxic chemical spill. They pull their lawnchairs out and watch it in its unnatural beauty.

We are moving back to cooler temps, but in the garden there is lots of activity. The stems of the brilliant sedum are starting to form, little green layers, like small brussel sprouts. By next fall, they will almost fall over under the weight of the big pink blossoms.

The forsythia and the lilacs are putting on their buds, and of course, the viburnums. It is not spring yet. Not even late winter yet. The lamb's ear have tiny green leaves, clumped and emerging from the older, faded leaves from last year. Daffodils continue to break the soil, and tonight a friend told me her tulips were beginning to break through.

This is too early. But I don't fret. My task is to plant and be wise in picking what to plant and where to plant it. To provide good, friable soil. I don't control the weather. Maybe spring will be here a month or more early. Maybe all these plants will be zapped with unforgiving freezes. Last year, we had 11 degrees below zero about this time.

1 comment:

lemming said...

Aha! So those are Sedum, eh? Is that plural or singular?