Old South/New South

It is one of those cold, grey days, making you want to throw your hands up in disgust.  Spring has been teasing us with little glimpses of her coming glory only to retreat and leave us believing she'll never arrive. The tulips and daffodils, just peeking from the ground, have been sprinkled with a fine coat of snow and I have retreated to the comfort of my favorite chair.  Warm weather may allude me, but a cup of tea is an eternal friend.

Having spent the winter immersing myself in seed catalogs and sketching planting blueprints, I am especially anxious for the return of warm weather.  The restrictions of our neighborhood association are stealing a bit of my happiness, but I'm determined to create the garden of my dreams.  Roses and peonies top my planting list for the sheer joy their frilly loveliness brings and, with careful planning, I'm sure to be able to hide more than a few vegetables among the flowers; vegetable gardens are not on the "approved" list, along with fruit trees.  I still wonder what possessed me to believe this was the best neighborhood for us!

I grew up in the country with a large vegetable garden, a fruit orchard, and Mother's roses.  To lie beneath an apple tree in full bloom is to catch a glimpse of heaven and it was my permanent residence in the spring.  Charlotte's Web will forever be linked in my mind with apple blossoms after having spent a week beneath the old, red delicious in the side yard.  Unfortunately, this is a pleasure I've not enjoyed for far too many years. 

While an apple tree is not an option, I make do with a petite, flowering cherry and a lovely first edition I'll Take My Stand by our much beloved Twelve Southerners. Not a bad trade-off by any means. Compromises must be made in order to blend our old southern ways in this new, every changing, south. Now where to find those antique roses....