Spring Greens

Christopher Morley once said ‘April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks GO.’ Green, in all of its shades, is the color of the month. The colors of the evergreens that anchor the landscape through all of the seasons now provide a backdrop for the early spring bulbs. The herbaceous perennial Hellebores, are flowering now too, and have leathery dark evergreen foliage, but need to have any winter-damaged foliage removed to look their best. The perennial groundcover, Vinca, also has evergreen foliage that provides a glossy foil for its little periwinkle blue flowers in mid-spring. Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973) is well known for her flower fairy illustrations and poems. Here is her song of the Periwinkle Fairy: In shady shrubby places, Right early in the year, I lift my flowers’ faces O come and find them here! My stems are thin and straying, With leaves of glossy sheen, The bare brown earth arraying, For they are evergreen. Evergreen leaves and needles provide the deepest notes in the spring symphony of greens. They complement the delicate freshness of the filmy green haze that is first seen on deciduous trees and shrubs followed by the varied hues of emerging perennials and the textured tones of the unfurling ferns and hostas. This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on spring greens.