We’re all feeling it—the need for spring.

One morning this week, shortly after dawn while taking the compost out, I heard a robin singing a spring song. It was sharp and clear in the cold air with nothing else stirring. Later I bundled up and poked around the garden, looking for more spring. I was not disappointed. The hellebores are starting to pull their green flower buds from the frozen earth and a scattering of snowdrop tips have appeared. I pushed a couple heaved heuchera back in the ground, gathered up some plant tags that were blowing around and headed back to the warm house and a cup of tea.

Gardeners always look forward to spring. Sure, I’m glad to hang up my tools in November and take a break, but by mid-January I’m cracking the seed catalogs and dreaming about what to grow. And this spring, more than almost any other, will be most welcome.

Our gardens provided so much in 2020, not the least of which a place to forget about the pandemic as well as political and civil unrest. Our gardens gave us ways to learn, share, observe and succeed. We found beauty, wonder and a connection to the natural world that was more critical than ever. Our gardens provided sanity and peace.

While I enjoy winter and a break from gardening, I have missed the garden. I welcome the lengthening days, the birds staking out their territory and the winter flowers starting to bloom. More than anything else, I welcome the hope of this spring: hope that the spectre of the virus will wane sometime this year, hope that political and civil unrest subsides and hope that we as a country can bridge our many divides and work together to make things better.

I wish you good health and a great gardening year!