And NO, not the kind that you are thinking of!
We went to Lucca yesterday, a small town northeast of Pisa. It was a 1.5 hour train ride to get there. The weather was GORGEOUS, highs in the upper sixties and not a cloud in the sky. Quite a difference from every other train ride we have taken so far!
On the train ride down, we passed plant nursery after plant nursery. (See I told you it wasn’t that kind of nursery!) There were rows of plants outside, just waiting. While we were in Lucca, there was a plant fair going on. Thankfully you had to pay an entry fee, so we walked along outside. If it had been free, I would have somehow convinced myself that our tiny, basically windowless little apartment could support a few spring plants!
The trees are starting to bud out and flower and the early plants like irises and the azaleas are in full bloom right now. The weather is doing that weird spring thing that the forecasters hate. One day 65F feels warm, the next day cold. It could rain or it could snow and no one would be surprised.
About this time in MI, I start getting itchy palms, wondering if spring is ever going to show up. I start visiting Home Depot and Van Atta’s, just looking at the flowers, wondering, wondering, wondering if I can put a few out now or do I do the smart thing and wait some more. I’m usually already outside everyday for a few minutes, walking around the yard, checking out the damage that winter (and the deer) have wrought on the yard. Have the crocuses starting peeking out of the ground yet?
I didn’t pull the gladioli bulbs this year. Because we would be gone, they wouldn’t get back in the ground come spring. However they are in a bed under the air vent of the hot water heater. Hopefully this kept the ground just warm enough for them to survive. It would be nice to come back in late June to a flower bed full of plants, getting ready to bloom!
Ah well, less than 90 days until my flight back. Not that I’m counting, really. I’ve just had to wait until less than 90 days before my flight to pick my seats on the airplane. Northwest (crappy airline that it is) has been keeping a running total for me!
We had a case of the itchy palms too…so off to the garden we went. 150 onion sets later, we called it a day. Our gardening partners were there later in the day and planted seeds for all the veggies. Don’t be envious though: we will probably have a late frost like last year and everything will die.