Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Desk Garden

Yesterday, before it began to snow, I was wandering around our yard admiring the progress of the spring bulbs. I love seeing the little white bells of the snow drops that are just finishing their three week run. Now the daffodils are pushing their green heads out of the ground, and the crocus and tulips are coming along as well. Some are bulbs that came with the house, others I planted in a fit of autumn gardening few years ago, but the greatest number come from my desk.

At the grocery store, I often pick up inexpensive pots of bulbs to brighten up my classroom. They live on my desk for a few weeks while they bloom, and then, when they are passed, I take them home and plant them. I know that early spring is completely the wrong season to be planting bulbs, but somehow it usually seems to work. We have several patches of desk tulips that keep coming back year after year. Two tiny varieties of desk iris live under the Japanese maple, and offer up beautiful dark purple blooms in early March. We also have at least one bunch of late desk crocus right outside our back door. This year, I think it will be a new patch of desk paper whites that joins the garden. I like to think of it as my own weird version of flower recycling.

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