Mother Nature's Powerful Ways

I’m watching the trees wildly swaying in the Chinook winds this morning and wondering if there is enough sap in them to keep from snapping off.  I remember my father’s words “nature is cruel but nature is true”.  I think the most astounding show of nature’s power came closest to home for me was last year’s flood here in Alberta.  Watching the water moving swiftly across acres of fields and approaching the highway as I drove past High River shocked me profoundly.  The next morning when I watched the news and saw the live coverage not only of High River but of Calgary I had no words to express my shock and amazement.  I’ve seen tremendous snows, even blizzards, but nothing compared to the power of that water.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been planting seeds to start off my summer garden and here I witness another of Mother Nature’s powerful ways.  I will be the first to admit that I was not born with a green thumb so when I witness successful germination of seeds I am wildly excited.  There is something amazing at watching the first signs of a green plant coming out of the soil and growing taller, unfolding it’s little leaf or stem.  Then moving on to the pots that have overwintered in the sunroom and seeing life come back makes me acknowledge that it’s worth while having a messy room for 6 months if it means savings on some of the bigger plants.

It’s the beginning of March and spring is not far away.  This year I am hoping southern Alberta actually gets a spring because for the last several years we’ve had a kind of extended winter and a dullish sort of summer.  My hope is that the seven year cycle is upon us and we now have some really good years of gardening ahead of us.   I’ve been watching a lot of gardening shows lately and yesterday I was really inspired by a fabulous container gardening program. 

Get me my uniform!  [Kelly’s Heroes]

Mother Nature, are you listening?