The joy of green shoots

[InAState22]

It’s been an awful couple of years. Left abusive marriage w DCs, got house with garden, managing to crawl along.

Xmas and NY a hellish blur of police, social services, legal advice.

Today I went into the garden and though it was frozen, there were green shoots. All from the loads of cheap but hopeful bulbs I planted in a fit of autumn determination.

Can’t describe how much joy it brought me. Hope someone else feels the same. Just wanted to share.

Yessss! Mine came up on New Years Eve. Only in two patches, none on the other three patches yet I know I planted, but grateful to be able to watch their progress nonetheless.

Yes it’s so uplifting to see the shoots of a new gardening yea and so significant for you OP.
I hope you continue to find things improve for you after such an awful time. Gardening is good for the soul.

That's lovely OP - onwards and upwards!

Thankyou! Onwards and upwards literally, for me and the bulbs 😀

Green shoots seem to mean hope, somehow.

Yep the boy counts them in the morning while waiting for his school taxi... we had 22 this morning. Cannot remember what they are both boys grabbed bags full of mixed bulbs from the pound shop and "planted them" in big tubs in the front garden kept them quiet for an hour :) I had zero expectations of any actually growing

Fab, the hope and promise of the coming year.

Green shoots, new beginnings.

Yes, it’s one of the things that cheers me in autumn, everything’s dying but the bulbs are beginning to put their noses through.

Reminds me to of how “right” it seemed for my toddler to be running around while my Mum was dying. We were losing her but life goes on.

I saw snowdrops out in a neighbour’s front garden this week, and it’s made me smile. Even though it feels like ages til I can start with my fruit and veg we’re past the longest day and on our way to summer again.

Love this quite by Audrey Hepburn — 'To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.' I hate January and February but I think growing seeds inside and bulbs outside will keep me going this year!

Lovely thoughts on this thread. Sadly, I saw a butterfly a few days ago. The poor thing was confused by seasonally over warm weather and came out of hibernation too early which is very sad, but they are there, waiting for warmer days, which are on the way. My hellebores are flowering, there are green shoots poking up, I feel like Mary Lennox!

I had such a lovely hour or two in my garden this afternoon. Cleared around all my hellebores and cut back the larger leaves so I can see the flowers properly, I also spotted two hellebores that I missed when I moved them all two years ago so they would all be together, so have earmarked them for relocation at a later date, I am hoping one is my very expensive yellow that I thought was lost. I then carried on cleaning up borders and tidying up stuff that should have been sorted in the autumn and wasn’t .Found so many green shoots of bulbs coming through, plus patches of snowdrops flowering and a couple of early violets. The camellia is absolutely covered in buds, last year was good, this year looks as though it will be even better. Was really pleased to see that the bargain basement cyclamen bought way back in September is still flowering like crazy, The soil was quite wet so was able to pull up weeds and plants in the wrong places quite easily.

All in all very satisfactory, though a bit too damp for sitting on the bench and having a cup of tea .

Ah yes. The first glimpses of green shoots when the world still feels dark and cold and sleeping.

I love Christmas and the cosiness of it but once it is done and dusted, I watch the garden every day for signs of growth because the shoots promise a better future: a summer of green and flowers and warm sun and coffees outside watching the birds raise families.

They are something that keeps me going through the muddy and damp days of January (and sometimes Feb).

George knew it...

Here comes the sun do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here

My garden is very confused by the weather!
I still have fuchsias in leaf with flowers on, and a delphinium flowered very late last year and has two new shoots on it.
Meanwhile, I have cyclamen out and polyanthus which hasn't stopped flowering since I bought it from the reject corner!

I hope 2022 is going to be a good year for you op, and your garden - great start!

'A fit of autumn determination' is exactly right for planting bulbs!

First sighting of snowdrops for me today here in Scotland.

When I see things that are a bit out of season, it reminds me nature doesn't look at the calendar, if there's an opportunity, she takes it.