March Madness

 

Winter Garden

Only five days into March and already my calendar is filled with various meetings, appointments, chores and duties!  No wonder there is the expression, March Madness!

However, according to NPR's Andy Bower, the term actually came from the name of Illinois state-wide basketball tournament.  This came as a complete surprise to me.  I enjoy basketball, played it in high school and still like to bounce the ball around a court from time to time, but I NEVER knew that this was were the term, March Madness was developed.

For me, March Madness is the time when the weather begins to cut us all some slack, thereby creating numerous reasons to gather together, enjoying camaraderie, celebrating various spring rituals and simply enjoying the longer days of sunshine.

As we enter March, I begin to get an itch to garden.  The gardening books suddenly show up in the mail, causing me to dream of mounds of flowers and herbs coexisting in perfect harmony just as they do in the pages of the mail-order books.  I dream, but I have long since realized that no one's garden EVER looks like the books, unless they are fortunate enough to have a full-time gardening team to do the work, along with perfect growing conditions.  I have neither.  Therefore, I have allowed myself the leeway to enjoy a wildly eccentric garden which includes what others call weeds along with cultivated plantings.  

I must admit, that at times, the green, growing things get the better of me and proliferate at an alarming degree.  I hate pulling plants out, but I also do not like the feeling of being swallowed alive by my garden.  It is a constant struggle, but one I lovingly attend to since the final results yield such delights!

Garden in July