The Promise of Spring

An arrangement of tulips and azaleas from the Dandelion House Cutting Garden

Anticipation, awakened, renewed, hopeful, excited, even! The promise of spring makes me feel this way. But it wasn’t always so. Not until I became a gardener in my late 20’s did I notice I had specific feelings about Spring. If you garden, you know!

In New England, we have several months of dormancy during the Winter season. While the gardens sleep, so do I. I’ve learned to lean into the slowness and quiet Wintertime brings to my mind, body and soul.

For a short 12 weeks I have time to rest and reflect on the previous season and dream and plan for what’s to come in the next. I bask in the relief of the change of seasons and the chance to nest and focus on family and holiday preparations. After all, it takes a lot out of a person to nurse plant babies and care for cut flowers properly. There are schedules to keep, pests and viruses to treat, buckets to wash, not to mention the weeding. Oh, the weeding…and the WEDDINGS! Oh, the WEDDINGS. . . .

Dandelion House Farm
The author in her cutting garden.

How easy it is to forget all of that when you’re snuggled up on the sofa with your favorite seed catalogs and scrolling through gorgeous Insta gardens online. These are my favorite winter exercises for building anticipation and hope. However, my eyes are always bigger than my plot of land, which is typical of most garden folk. No matter what’s going on in the world, I can escape into flowerland for hours and return to reality, feeling hopeful and excited. I am comforted in the knowledge that mother nature is working her magic behind the scenes to assure us of a fresh start, once again.

As the days get longer and lighter, my heart quickens at the thought of seeing the verdant green sprigs of snow crocus and muscari emerge from the warming earth.

Debbie Bosworth
Crocus emerges, even with snow on the ground

As the days get longer and lighter, my heart quickens at the thought of seeing the verdant green sprigs of snow crocus and muscari emerge from the warming earth. It’s always a miracle to see them springing to life under a pile of snow.

While walking through the perennial gardens the other day, I noticed signs of new growth underneath the decayed leaves and stems of last year’s blooms. It never gets old. I’m tempted to cut everything down to the ground but snow is still a possibility and the returning birds are making a feast out of the seed pods from the black-eyed Susans and coneflower. Instead, I’ll wait a bit longer before starting my spring cleanup chores and let the anticipation continue to build.

Debbie Bosworth

Debbie Bosworth is a gardener//florist in Plymouth, MA. She owns Dandelion House Floral Design, a boutique flower farm and floral design business. "As long as I can remember I've loved flowers and no matter what, I've always had flower gardens. In 2012, I became impassioned with the idea of having a little flower farm but a move wasn't in the stars, so instead, I turned a large portion of my backyard into a micro cut flower garden. That first season was magical. I couldn't believe how easy it was to grow sun loving annuals for cutting. I harvested buckets of dahlias, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, and a variety of filler flowers that year. I shared my flowers with family, friends and neighbors arranged in simple mason jars. Before long I was asked to do an intimate wedding with my garden grown blooms and I fell in love with the entire process of creating for weddings. Fast forward seven years and I am more in love with growing flowers and floral design than ever before. My passion for gardening and growing beautiful cut flowers is my inspiration for creating designs with a wildly romantic, natural feel." Debbie is a Slow Flowers member and founder of the New England Farmer Florist Connection Facebook group. Debbie works from her home studio servicing wedding clients south of Boston and Cape Cod , Massachusetts. When she's not " in the flowers" you'll find her recouping at the beach with her family and Figgy, the friendly corgi.

1 Comment
  1. Well, it’s The Great Aunt Nan here in Nevada. Your lovely and welcoming message from New England greeted me this morning. A cup of coffee and a “visit to your garden”, the perfect start to my day. I look forward to more of your wonderful creations. Thank you for giving me the promise of spring!!

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