In the throes of doing my taxes last week, I was NOT aware of the beauty of nature around  me, NOT thinking how fresh and clear the air was after the dawn rainstorm.  I was NOT thinking of beauty or health or clarity.  I was thinking about MONEY.  How I HATE it.  How I don’t have ENOUGH of it.  My back to the sun, I stalked across the field, shoulders tense, head down – so I had to notice the brilliant droplets clinging to the blades of grass.  Electric blues, flaming oranges, rubies, emeralds, amethysts and gold; jewels in every spectrum-hue flung themselves at my feet.

“I could live on these,” I thought.  On tiny bright portions of light and water.

Days later, taxes turned in, stress level ratcheted down a few notches (now accepting recommendations for small-business accountants), I realize that I DO live on light and water.  Money is nothing but a disturbing societal invention.  I just need a new business plan.  It is light and water that power me through each day.  The nursery’s plants exist and grow because of light and water.

Light and water have filled the nursery with plants reaching out for more!  The Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata) has woken up.  Hunkered down flat all winter under the shelter of a big Dougals Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), bright three-part leaves stretch up to the spring light.  They will bloom all summer, small plumes lifting up to two feet tall, above the foliage.  The clusters of tiny flowers are white.  Did you know that white encompasses all the colors of the spectrum?  (more on Foamflower)

The Grand Fir (Abies grandis) is responding well to light and water (and weeding, and chip-hauling…).  They have a respectable three-foot start on their future lives as elegant tall members of the ecological community.  If you have a well-drained site, you may consider this evergreen tree.  It will host plenty of life in its beautiful canopy of shiny dark-green needles – and shade the Foamflower.

Living on tiny bright portions (cash helps too)…

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