By Linda Wiggen Kraft,
Healthy Planet Green & Growing Editor
Gardens of spring feed both our bodies and our souls. The burst of colors with spring blossoms is like the change in the Wizard of Oz as it goes from black and white to color. Something awakes deep within us with living colors from the earth. Soon after the first flower blossoms, our bodies are fed with the fresh greens of cool weather edibles.
That first spring blossom is perhaps the most precious of all. In my garden, yellow winter aconite heralds the end of winter. Once it blooms with spots of yellow scattered about, the garden is transformed in a day. There is always February day when I leave in the morning unaware that any green has grown in the garden. Later when I come home the yellow of a winter aconite glows from across the yard. From that moment on I feel the stirrings of life beneath my feet. Once aconite starts blooming, it doesn’t take long for the crocuses to follow. They bring the addition of white, purple and more yellow. Aconite and crocus only grow a few inches above ground, but their colors can be seen from many feet away.
Daffodils are next with their amazing colors of whites, yellows, creams, and oranges. They announce spring with their trumpets of color. Hyacinths, with perfume that fills the cool air, soon after begin their bloom. Tulips end the spring bulb season. Their loveliness means spring saved the best for last. There seems to be an infinite array of color, shape and height. If one looks closely at the beauty of each tulip flower, whether in its early tight bud or graceful open form just before the petals fall off, it is possible to see why Dutch men and women went mad during the reign of tulip mania.
Those first winter aconite blossoms shift my consciousness from the introspection of winter to a feeling of it’s time to get to work. Now is the time to get the spring vegetable garden growing. Seeds for cool weather can be sown outdoors in March. Even if there is snow these seeds will germinate and grow. The colors of spring’s flowers are an inspiration to plant colors of the rainbow in the vegetable garden. The red of Ruby Swiss chard lasts from spring through fall. Edible nasturtium flowers as well as the stems of Bright Lights Swiss chard add reds, oranges and yellows to the garden. The chartreuse green leaves of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce almost glow in the dark. Blue and purple pansies along with purple Johnny-jump-ups and purple kohlrabi complete the rainbow palette.
All these living colors of the garden feed our bodies and our souls. We tend to forget that our souls need nourishment just as much as our bodies. Perhaps it is the infinite wisdom of the garden that brings food for our soul and body every spring.
Linda Wiggen Kraft is a landscape designer of holistic/organic gardens. She is an artist and creativity workshop leader. Her ceramic jewelry and pottery are available online. Check her website for details. Find out more, subscribe to her blog and Instagram at www.CreativityForTheSoul.com, Call her at 314 504-4266.