“The earth laughs in flowers.”
This quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who lived in the 1800s.
Because I’m writing this in February and I live in Minnesota, it will be a couple more months before the spring flowers begin to bloom. And yet each year around this time I start looking forward to seeing them, and I loved Emerson’s quote about flowers when I came across it. For flowers, with their various colors, shapes, and sizes, do add a kind of joy to our world, and laughter and joy often go hand in hand.
Perennials begin blooming at different times throughout the growing season and they vary in how long they continue budding. Tulips and lilacs are two of the earliest to arrive where I live. But whenever any flowers arrive and for whatever the length of time they bloom, it’s special to see them. There are also many types of annual flowers that can be planted each spring that continue to bloom all summer. Some annuals are marigolds, zinnias and petunias. We also get to see wild flowers at nature areas and in the countryside. And of course there are indoor flowering plants that add beauty to our lives that we can also appreciate and that add a touch of nature within our homes.
When I find myself looking forward to the arrival of the spring flowers, I’m also reminded of the other signs that spring is coming–the longer lengths of daylight, milder temperatures (although that varies a lot this time of year), and migrating birds returning. Yesterday I saw about 20 Canadian Geese flying in a V-formation as they returned from having migrated south last fall.
Enjoying the beauty of flowers is yet another way of appreciating the many gifts in our lives.