This is, to me, the most mysterious time of the year. Everything is brown and cold and, seemingly, dead. Under the ground, though, much is happening as evidenced by an amaryllis bulb kit I opened last week. It was a gift from several weeks back which sat in a chair all that time unopened. When I finally did open the box last week, I was amazed by the growth of the flower emerging from the bulb already. There was 5-6 inches of stem and an inch and a half of flower curled inside the box and fighting for what must have been a shard of light and plenty of warmth to activate it's growth hormones. Needless to say, I put it into the growing medium in the pot as soon as I could and, in the few days hence, the stalk has straightened and grown about an inch more already.
The flower will be beautiful, I'm sure, as flowers blooming this time of year especially always are but that's the essence. This time of year with all the brown and cold precludes flowering but one must only think beneath the soil, inside that bulb as it were, to picture all the work and, indeed, activity. Bulbs are resting and restoring. Plants are doing the same. Microbes are working, eating. Recent fallen leaves are decomposing and offering nearby plants protection and nutrients. The underworld is very much alive and preparing to offer us yet another year of food and bloom.
