Spring Fever

The Garden Centers are teaming with frenzied buying. I see carts loaded with mulch, coleus, petunias, and hanging baskets... it's as if everyone is high on spring.

April and May are months of promise, of unbounded expectation. All winter we've dreamed and plotted about this very time and all the projects we'll complete. And when we see all the blooming beauties at our local Home Depot or Ace, we just can't help ourselves.

There must be something in the air. The birds are singing, the frogs croaking, and there is this primal urge in us to plant. It makes total sense. In the northern hemisphere, our agrarian ancestors had to channel all their energies into quickly planting crops before the heat of summer. And I believe our almost manic compulsion to spring-plant is a lingering manifestation of that deep-rooted urgency.

But spring is a time of transition. Its idyllic weather is a deception. We need to consider what is right around the corner. Increasingly our summers come earlier and last longer. Most of the plants we've planted, particularly the annuals, will look great for a month or two but will peter out by July. But they might revive again in the fall if we have patience and can tolerate them looking like crap for a month or two. Fall is our"second spring"- and far less stressful in my opinion.

Now I don't mean to diminish our exuberance for spring. It feels good to "overdo" it and to get caught up in the "spirit of the season." I certainly enjoy the manic energy of spring, but I also try to keep in the back of my mind a voice of reason. I try to remember all the watering I'm going to have to do day after day when it invariably turns dry! It is easy to plant all these things, but to actually keep them alive during our endless summer can be a monumental task.

I like to ask myself (though I certainly do give in to impulse buying) "Do I have a place for this plant, and am I going to remember where it is?" A strategy I've found to be helpful is to plant all my new things either in pots or in one designated bed. We are more likely to water them if they are all in the same location. Dragging hoses around isn't fun!

It is also important to remember that in this manic season of work and effortless color, it is easy to get overwhelmed and burned out. I've recently found myself in this situation because I always feel like I have to "do it all". But it can't all be done, nor can the beauty of spring be fully appreciated in its entirety. There are so many things I want to see and do, but I just have to accept that I can't. Hopefully, there will be future springs to see new things, but I have to accept my limitations. Otherwise "spring fever" truly becomes an illness and I retreat into depression, as I am naturally prone to do.

Going forward I am going to try to do the impossible. I going to try to both enjoy the out-of-controlled zeal of spring, but also keep in mind the realities and burn-out of the coming summer. Maybe I should just accept that this is always going to be in conflict. One of the great aspects of living is allowing oneself to be swept away by the dynamic power of nature as guided by the seasons. We must remember that just like the joyful bids singing, we too are largely out of control of our feelings. Sometimes it's nice to just ride it out!