Creation - The Shoots

Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states. ~Carol Welch

This spring has started in what I think is a fantastic way. Last week was amazingly warm and inviting. It was impossible not to move and feel more alive than in the winter months. Of course, in true New England fashion, the cool down came along with the rains and this weekend it should be back in the teens. I think Mother Nature wants an assurance that we will appreciate fully the potential of spring when it finally settles in.

Like the second chakra, spring is full of creation energy. Called Svadhisthana this chakra represents water, movement, pleasure, nuturance and the emotions. In the body it is located just at the navel point and is the place of procreation energy and creativity as well as all our feelings. When the smells and sounds of spring begin to appear I can't help but feel so happy. It just bubbles up! When I can comfortably be in the outside air, I walk through my yard to see my sleeping gardens and invariably the happiness turns into excitement which gives rise to new ideas.

What creative ideas are bubbling forth for you?

I have been thinking about the vegetables I want to plant...I already have my lettuce seeds perched at the front door waiting for the perfect time to sow them directly into my waiting garden soil. Do you have vegetable plans?

With all the rains and flooding, I keep thinking about rain gardens as the perfect storm water solution for more and more residential properties. These fabulous gardens (also called Bio Retention Cells) are built to hold excess water runoff so that it can gently percolate down and recharge into the ground without causing flooding. The water is cleaned by the plants and the soils as it seeps back into the earth. These gardens are planted with both herbaceous and woody material that are very attractive to look at as they do this important environmental work.

The winds of today and yesterday remind me how important it is to be flexible and invite movement into my life. It is the woodier plants that are susceptible to breakage under the pressure of wind. But the ornamental grasses, oh how they flow with such grace and ease. Managing the growth of trees with careful and thoughtful pruning right from the start will train them into balanced forms and offer them more grace and flexibility to withstand winds. Find an arborist today that can help you keep your valuable woody ornamental and shade trees in healthy balance.

Each year gardeners get a new opportunity to nurture the earth whether it be a tiny vegetable plot or acres and acres of gardens. The creativity and passion that go into the tasks of gardening are most rewarding and fulfilling. You can't help but feel empowered to create and move when playing in your garden!

Happy Gardening.