Weather or Not

I don’t know about where you live, but around here the weather’s been just a wee bit loony lately. The seasons aren’t fitting into their four—Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter—boxes quite as neatly as they used to.

Sometimes that’s only an inconvenience (I can use my snow shovel instead of my digging fork today, no problem). Others it can be much more serious (as in our farmer’s story on the California wildfires, p. 52). And in the long term…(I will hold my tongue here) (which isn’t easy for me).

Whether the weather’s behaving or not has a big impact on gardeners. I’ve always maintained that gardening reconnects us to weather the same way it does to time (see ”Time in the Garden,” p. 42). Most people see weather through their car windows and think the only good day is a sunny day. Gardeners know that weather affects whether our plants thrive or suffer, live or die. For us, weather matters. We are caretakers; we care.

And now we come to Spring. (I recently decided to start capitalizing the names of the seasons in the magazine in honor of their importance to us.) Of course, everyone loves Spring—with good reason. Just look at the cover and all those people celebrating the joy of being outdoors again.

Now look again. Look close. Do you see one woman, perhaps a little bit older, in the picture, kneeling at a clump of daffodils? Do you see…the gardener? Caring?

Pat Stone, Editor

P.S. Our sincerest condolences to Contributing Editor Diana Wells on the loss of her beloved husband, Charles (p.32).