Earlier this week I bought this planter of pansies at the Elbridge Tops. They were so colorful! Usually I buy the blues and purples for my flower boxes at the lake, but I splurged on diversity. There are white, yellow and even orange blossoms in there.
Then it snowed. Just a half inch or so, but there they are in snow. During the day the sun comes out and they recover joyously. When I wash the dishes I can see them on the table on the deck. Sign of what will come. Eventually.
I remember years ago when Bob had his own house in Syracuse on the east side. He had planted pansies and they made it through the winter even. Hardy flowers...just like Central New Yorkers!
This week in the news there were reports once again of the toll the drought is taking on the West. The volcano in Chile exploded, bringing back vivid memories of Mt. St. Helen when we lived in Seattle. My cousins in Alabama are in that tenuous part of the country that gets tornadoes and hurricanes.
Our hardiness is the day to day stuff. We have had the derechos, as in the storms of 1998 and 1999. We have blizzards, or what passes for blizzards here. The prairies get the real thing, I think. We just get dumped on with snow. Last fall was amazing - warm and so beautiful in the hills! We've had hot summers lately, too...well into the 90s for days. But not the humidity of places like Baltimore.
We put up with the long winters, or at least most of us do. I feel like I am losing friends to Florida's mild winters. Houses are selling here, though, because it is a solid place to live. Yes, there are pansies in the snow, but such beauty surrounds us! And unlike Manhattan or other incredible cities, you can see the night sky here. It doesn't threaten with winds or floods so much....but promises clear days ahead.
Yes, you need to be hardy here, but it is worth it.
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