February’s full moon, named the ‘Snow Moon’ related to it’s timing in a typically snowy month in our Northern Hemisphere, showed it’s glory the last Saturday of the month. This same moon is also called the ‘Hunger Moon’ for the challenge of food over the bleak winter season. This past winter has been unusual in the mild temperature patterns and lack of snow cover. Nature is teasing us into a sense that Spring is near- we are willing to leap toward Spring.
Spring, defined in the Miriam Webster dictionary, as a ‘time or season of growth or development.’ The Cambridge dictionary describes Spring as a ‘season of the year between winter and summer, lasting from March to June (north of the equator).
Our plants and trees are coaxed to reach for warmth and sun with lengthening daylight. The Cardinals have ramped up their songs to claim territory, Creeping Charlie is ebbing out green leaves and my garlic has sprouted. Nature is on her own time line.
On the website Parade.com, this time of year is framed as a ‘transition from winter’s introspection to spring optimism.’ Now, with 6 to 8 weeks left of potentially cool, unpredictable weather, we can be optimistic as we gather our seed catalogs, take stock of our landscape and begin planning for our upcoming season of growth as we enter March.
We, at Knecht’s, will soon be ‘unpacking’ trees and shrubs put to bed last fall. The green houses will be heated to welcome thousands of new plants. Potting soil is being mixed sending out the fragrance of earth in preparation for transplanting fragile young sprouts. We are optimistic for this next season of growth called Spring.
