My heart is filled with comfort when I stand in my springtime garden. Daffodils, tulips, Virginia Bluebells, Crocus, violets fill my views bringing back memories of favorite places and times. Purposeful choices of plants have helped make this plot of land a loved home. My mother always had tulips and daffodils bloom in the front of our home. Violets freely roamed on the side and were allowed pickings much to my thrill. Crocus and Bluebells are a tradition of my own made more meaningful from memories of Becky, our youngest, picking the first to bloom in her excitement to share this announcement of spring with me. For three years now the crocuses have bloomed undisturbed, now that she is grown and not regularly present in the yard.

These vernal blooms are complimented with />several bursting clusters of Old Fashion Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis. Lingering droplets are evidence of a recent, cool, spring rain before I woke. They were also a new addition to my life twenty six years ago, when I began this, my first garden. Five-bypass surgery for my husband this spring has made this season’s blooms more meaningful than usual. When I placed a vase of one stem loaded with bleeding hearts on our coffee table (TIP: singe the end with a match to keep from wilting) it represented for me, his continued beating heart success.

Perennials, including bulbs, are important to my garden for more than sustainability which is so politically correct today. They represent the durability and strength of tradition. My heart is healthier because of their presence. And the fact that they will bloom in my garden perennially is the comforting essence of tradition.