YORKTON - Can you believe that we are into March? It’s only 83 more sleeps until the May long weekend, the tradition ‘garden-planting time’, but who knows, it could be earlier! Yes, gardening season is coming; I’m sure that gardeners everywhere are getting eager to “talk shop” as we look forward to spring, and here’s a nice chance to get together! Mark your calendar!
The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their first meeting of 2023 on March 15 at the Yorkton Public Library at 7:00 PM. Our special guest will be Dana from Mehan Flowers, and she’ll be telling us about growing specialty cut flowers, perfect for any occasion! Come out, everyone is welcome! You don’t have to be a hort member to attend the presentation. Be watching our website, www.yorktonhort.ca, for new information about upcoming meetings.
I can’t wait to hear about Dana’s flowers. What a treat it will be! It’s interesting to note that when there is a special event on tv, almost anything from a dog show to horse races to awards programs to celebrity or royal weddings, there are always flowers! Doesn’t that rreinforce what we were talking about once over a cup of tea, how flowers and plants are so much a part of our daily lives. Flowers share the joys and sorrows of life with us: we send them with congratulations for a new baby, a job promotion, or a new home; they herald special celebrations like a wedding, a graduation, or a birthday; and we send them as comfort when someone is ill or when someone has passed away. They are the wordless expression of how we feel, and yet they say so much!
Flowers in everyday life provide inspiration for great things! Perhaps you have seen pictures of beautiful paintings by Claude Monet. Monet was a French painter who died in 1926, but in spite of his fame as an artist, one of his most important passions was his beautiful garden. I read somewhere that he preferred to think of himself as a gardener, more than an artist. Indeed, his garden was his main source of inspiration for his work. I once saw a TV program that took the viewer on a tour of Monet’s garden: now wouldn’t that be something? You and I could actually see the waterlilies that inspired one of his most famous paintings! Monet once said, “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” And I think if we had a chance to sit down and have tea with Monsieur Monet in his garden, we would have a lot in common with him, because he also once said, “Everything I have earned has gone into these gardens.” He would truly understand how you and I get carried away at the garden centres every spring! He’d probably do the same thing!
Sometimes we hear people say, “Oh, I’m not a gardener.” I myself don’t believe it, do you? People may not always garden in the traditional sense; maybe they don’t plant big gardens and endless planters. But I think that almost every person feels the pull of nature; the sense of peace and relaxation when surrounded by growing things; the serenity of heart and soul that only nature can bring. Nature touches us all. There is something in flowers and plants that speaks to us, and in turn, we translate it and speak to each other, be it with a single rose, a bouquet, or a painting.
This time of ‘garden limbo’, between winter and spring, is a time to reflect on what we want this year’s ‘garden’ to be, whatever form it takes. Look at books, gardening magazines, photos online, and be inspired! Have a great week!
