Garden Resolution Look skyward during these winter months, and you will see an overcast grey. Light fights its way through clouds that are just thick enough to block the energy of the sun. Look down, and your yard likely yields a similar, cold monotony. But with the start of a new year, our eyes are drawn to possibilities and potential. For the months ahead, the Chinese New Year beckons us to take our typical January 1st resolutions, and fashion them to resemble the spirit of the horse. The Year of the Horse invites you to make a bold move to attack life with a greater sense of optimism. As the ethos of Chinese people, the spirit of the horse is about “making unremitting efforts to improve

[yourself]…. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able.”[1] What better invitation to improve not only yourself, but the space around and in which you dwell? What better place to try out this new optimism than in your yard. What small or large improvements might you add to it? You have a lawn, you have a space; it may be calling you to make a change. Perhaps a dose of the bold, wild colours of Gaillardia (pictured)? Or maybe you have a spot in mind that would be perfect for the flaming energy of the Hot Shot Calla Lily varietal? Colours associated with the Year of the Horse. You may know yourself to be an exacting and particular gardener. You enjoy the results of a best-laid plan, executed at the perfect time, in the perfect way, planted at the perfect depth and spacing. But perhaps this is the year for you to be boldly whimsical. Make plans to add a splash of colour, take that risk that has been toying in the background. Sow seeds a little more haphazardly, and see what the ground gives you. The boldness of your whimsy, combined with the colours that the earth unveils in the seeds you give to it, will be wonderful reminders that potential hides behind the clouds and beauty lies waiting in the cold soil. All that’s needed is some time and a simple willingness to try energizing your life and living spaces. Pinterest picture “like” from: http://www.glenleagreenhouses.com/gaillardia.html