Get the damn Magnolia....

Spring always always makes me appreciate life, even more than usual. This past winter was SO awful that the fact that the trees are budding and the plants are starting to bloom just makes me want to skip down the street like a little kid!! We are all busy, running around, being moms, dads, taxi drivers, private chefs, therapists, and bankers. SO I have a request for anyone reading this.....Pay attention to the changes that nature is giving us, beautiful ones! Go to Washington Park and look at the Magnolia blooming. Pay attention to the Forsythia and red bud trees that are blooming along route 50 to Vincennes. These things don't last very long, but to stop and appreciate their beauty will give you a feeling that I promise you will last a lifetime. Maybe they will make you think of someone, a time or place....a better time, a better place. Maybe not.
So much beauty in Spring, the grass is green, the Tulips are proud to be above ground and showing off their bold colors. The lilacs are putting on the best fragrance you will ever smell, so notice these things when you walk by. It is like God is saying, never forget we all have our time to shine....so appreciate the shine while it is here, because the tulips will dieback until next year, and the lilac will loose its fragrance, and just become a green bush the rest of the summer....but don't treat it like a red-headed step child, look at it and know it is beautiful in its prime. Just like you. We all have our prime...our time to shine. When you look back on your life, there are going to be years that you felt like a beautiful Magnolia in bloom. Maybe those years were your spring. Maybe the time you live in now, is a cold hard winter. that is OK, remember the spring, remember the fragrance. You will bloom again. Don't push it, let nature do the work. Just feed and nurture yourself so you can absorb the nutrients you need to expend those buds into beautiful blooms. Because it wont last forever, your flowers will drop, and people that walk by you in the park wont notice your fragrance, you will just be another shrub, or tree, or green thing. But if they paid attention to your flowers, they will remember that you have a time to shine, and you will again.

So, while we all prepare our landscapes and gardens this spring, plant things that make you happy! Don't worry about how long it will bloom, how fast it will grow, if it makes you happy, GET THE DAMN MAGNOLIA.