Spring in Autumn

Posted 8/21/12

I have been planting hyacinth and daffodil bulbs during these first unseasonably warm days of November—digging the husked, bulging roots into the dirt beneath the shriveled, crunchy leaves flooding …

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Spring in Autumn

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I have been planting hyacinth and daffodil bulbs during these first unseasonably warm days of November—digging the husked, bulging roots into the dirt beneath the shriveled, crunchy leaves flooding my garden. I work with the image of pungent purple and yellow trumpeting flowers in my mind’s eye.

This fall I have been thinking about and looking for the earliest signs of spring, and I think that I have found some. In fact, we could say spring is already here in the bulbs in the ground, in the velvety bud scales of the magnolia’s autumn buds and in the blooming witch hazel.

I found the lovely blossoms of the native witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) on a walk to our old farmstead last week. These shrubs (also informally called “winter bloom,”) defy convention with their eye-catching late fall display of rocket-like flowers. The straggly, yellow petals are like streamers from a 4th of July rocket. Perhaps better known for the astringent made from its bark, witch hazel has also often been used to make divining rods for dowsing to locate underground sources of water. But I like to think of witch hazel as autumn’s forsythia—heralding the new season with an explosion of blossoms.

Next spring’s leaves and flowers have already formed inside the buds of many trees including the magnolia. To survive winter, the buds are protected by a covering of weatherproof bud scales that fall off in spring when the magnolia gets ready to send forth its sweet-scented flowers. The bud scales of magnolia are particularly visible now in the tree’s bare November branches.

I have planted my hyacinth and daffodil bulbs and am reminded of this famous poem. Do you remember it too from when you were a child? Commonly quoted and adapted by western writers including John Greenleaf Whitter, and even featured in an episode of the 1970s crime drama series “The Mod Squad,” it is originally attributed to the Medieval (13th century) Persian poet Moslih Eddin Saadi.

“If of thy worldly goods thou art bereft…

and to thee alone two loaves are left,

sell one, and with the dole,

buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”

These warm November days will not last much longer. I have taken out our winter coats. I have brought my house plants inside from their summer home on the porch. The Christmas cactus is in brilliant bloom in its winter sanctuary atop the chest of drawers filled with mittens, woolly hats and scarves. Soon I will put away the trowels and shovels. But until then, there is still time to plant hyacinths and daffodils.

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