Green flowers give me hope for spring...eventually.

Arghhhhhhhh!  As this winter of unending snow continues to bring still MORE snow to us beleaguered Nova Scotians, we cope in different ways, don't we? Some flee to warmer climates for a few days or weeks of sunlight, beaches, but I'm not wired that way. I need sunlight and green, yes, but not traffic and travel headaches.

I was in the city the other day to pick up a couple boxes of my new book to sell at various locales, and took a copy in to my friend, florist par excellence Neville MacKay of My Mother's Bloomers. He, in return, had made up a bouquet for me to celebrate this new arrival. Of green flowers, which are one of my favourite delights, indoors and out.

This is a green form of Love Lies Bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus), also sometimes known by the same name as a similar plant, 'kiss me over the garden gate"(which is actually a Persicaria). The flowers have a delicate 'green' fragrance, reminiscent of new mown grass. They cascade in a fountain of flower sprays, so I had to put the vase up high, lest little cats get too curious.

I've grown Bells of Ireland, Mollucella laevis, in my garden, because I love the brilliant green bracts--the flower is a small white heart surrounded by the 'bell'. These flowers have a fresh scent reminiscent of a mild mint, and look beautiful by themselves or with flowers of similar or contrasting colours.

The green spider chrysanthemums look like an outburst of happy green fireworks to me. They catch the winter sunlight (when we have some, which we haven't since Thursday) and absolutely glow with emerald brilliance.

No, this isn't a part of the bouquet, but my paphiopedilum 'Limerick x Hillsvale x Cherokee' is still blooming beautifully, so I had to include it in this ode to greenness. There's another flower bud forming in the plant's cluster, so I'll have that to look forward to when this one is finished.

The weather cleared long enough the other night for the full moon to put in an appearance, through the maples in the front yard. For some inscrutable reason, full moons make me think that spring will come...probably because each time we see one, we're that much further into the year and yes, the greens of spring WILL find us again.

Many of us in other parts of North America are moving out of winter and into garden cleanup, winter sowing, indoor seeding, etc, but for the rest of us...how do YOU cope with this seemingly endless barrage of weather?