The Green and the Blue

A second snow storm within a week. And this is supposed to be spring break! The tulip and the daffodils that cost good money, and required more than one weekend to plant last year, are probably going to droop their cheery heads and die before April comes. How inconvenient! Would global warming just get here already! Yes, it has been said before, and when I hear it my face usually turns red (pink?) from the liberal rage welling within me. And now these same words are on the tip of my tongue, as I stare at that flower bed under a blanket of white, with a snow shovel in my hand.

Of course, they don't cross my lips before my mental governor slaps a gag on my mouth. Instead my mental state is flooded with the images of Bangledesh, New Orleans, and Hondurus of, well, floods. Those are some the real problms of global warming. or climate change. Droughts in Africa and in the American southeast are more of the same. Shouldn't I be ashamed of my petty compalints and interests? I'm just an amatuer flower farmer with a crop of 2 dozen yellow daffodils destined for my own kitchen table (and maybe, if I have the time and inclination, a couple for my neighbor who watches my kinds when child care falls through at the last minute.) That's not a problem.

And yet, This is probably the closest I get to understanding the climate that we all depend on. Maybe instead of chastising myself for self-absorbtion, as I contemplate the dependence of small creatures on the great earth, I could become smarter about the small world I inhabit (this suburb) in relation to the great world I also inhabit with all of you. Shouldn't I take this plot of earth I have, and let it cause me to care even more about the weather, the climate and the environment? After all, I can do things much better. I could split these bulbs this year, instead of always buying new ones. I could find the micro climnate in my yard that will keep my bulbs from blooming prematurely, in relation to the macro-climate of the front range, Colorado. That would save fuel, money and time.

It seems this spring snow storm has taught me to avoid planting the horticlutural gems of Holland at 5000 feet and at the expense of myself and the planet. This summer, I'll plant Columbines.