Labor of Love

When I bought the house in Nevada City in 1996, I was a single mom with two little boys. The front garden, put in by the previous owners, was a tangle of junipers and a few strategically placed flowers. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either, so I hired a landscape company to maintain it and adopted a what-the-heck-it’s-green attitude.

And then I met Joseph, and everything changed.

Joseph is known throughout our neighborhood as being the best thing that ever happened to our garden. He yanked out the junipers, put in a small lawn, built walls and terraces, and planted masses of flowers and shrubs. Areas that were previously designated as Mother Nature’s raw goods became part of the landscape. It was like the part in “The Wizard of Oz” where everything goes from black and white to color.

Now, with the arrival of spring, his hard work pays off in abundance.

Yep…It’s spring.

To some, the appearance of daffodils marks the onset of spring. To others, it’s the soft green buds on the trees. To still others, it’s the temperature gauge consistently hitting at or above 60 degrees. To me, spring is heralded by the blossoms that appear on the flowering cherry tree in our front yard.

Year after year, I can count on it to blossom in time for Easter. It doesn’t remain in full bloom for very long, but even as its majesty is dwindling, it delivers a swan song of petals that blanket the ground like pink snow.