SEASONAL LIVING AT ARCADIAN REVIVAL

Springtime showers have welcomed the month of May the past few years at our home in Upstate New York. Our gardens wake from their long slumber and seem to be eagerly growing quickly toward their more mature state. If we are organized, we already have a round of fresh organic mulch laid before the weeds catch up with the perennials. This first burst of growth from the gardens always seems to happen overnight. And it isn’t until well into May that we can safely assume our last frost date has passed. Then, our rather short growing season commences.

This month we celebrate Mother’s Day, and a few family birthdays — the first of the warm weather celebrations if we’re lucky. For as long as I can remember, Mother’s Day has always had an association with gardening. A few flats of flowers planted, a few yards of mulch laid, or the gift of something that will transcend the passing seasons.

I recall in May 2011 visiting home during my first year with a full-time job out of college. I beamed with pride as I gifted three lilac bushes for my mom that year, a small fortune to me at the time. While only one survived, it is thriving. That lilac bush is a reminder of the gift of love, and one that fills my mother and me with memories of the blanket of lilacs my grandmother planted alongside the house that my grandfather built. Today, we fill our home with lilacs from our own property, and have enjoyed mixing varieties with blooms from our friends. We make a point of bringing their fragrance into our children’s bedrooms, securing their nostalgia for another generation to come.

We also welcome Spiraea, and it’s quite possible that I planned my own baby shower around being home for its blooms. May is often when we make our first mixed arrangements, usually with whatever blooms my daughter can find to pick. They sit carefully in a small vase or glass at the kitchen window. We open our fountain, our rhubarb shoots up, and I try to make as many grapevine wreaths as I can before the leaves hide their path from clear sight.

After many long months, May also means more local produce and thus our almost summer kitchen begs for our attention and creativity. The rhubarb shows it’s strength in a way that we can only answer by baking, freezing, and sharing with our neighbors. Our windows and doorways open every chance that the weather properly allows and we patiently finish up any outstanding work indoors.

We look to our children, and then we look to the outside world in awe as the new leaves and changed environment captivates them as they stare in wonder.