SPRING = POLLEN

Spring has arrived! Guess what else has? Yup, it’s that time of year allergy sufferers dread. When the weather report confirms what you already know—‘pollen counts are very high today due to trees and grasses’. And that, my friends, is when you pray for rain - cleansing, soaking rain.


Along with the rain and pollen has come the reward of having planted those beautiful bulbs. The crocuses are up and fading fast, the daffodils have sprouted and are issuing forth their happy blooms, and now the hyacinths are poking their heads thru the ground and almost ready to bloom. Their heady aroma will soon replace the waning Sarcococca’s sweet fragrance (often called ‘fragrant sweet box’).

"To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.”
-Beverley Nichols(1898-1983)

Fragrances…it reminds me of ‘the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind’. It is a non-profit company, and the largest employer of people who are blind, deaf-blind, and blind with other disabilities in the region. A special bonus on site for the employees, and anyone who would like to visit, is the Ethel Dupar Fragrance Garden. The King County Master Gardeners are a key part in the rehabilitation and upkeep of the gardens, which are rich in plants that engage the senses of smell, touch, and hearing. This is one garden where you are encouraged to touch the plants to enhance the garden experience! To learn more, click on:
http://www.seattlelighthouse.org/index.html. From the home page, you can then click on ‘fragrant gardens’ to learn more about visiting the garden and the plants used there.

So from this Gardener’s Roost, everything’s indicating spring is sprung, from the daffodils to the eagle that is now patiently sitting on the nest awaiting the arrival of her chicks. News on that soon!