It's All About Next Year

I like how gardening always keeps you focused on the future while at the same time making sure you appreciate the present. Yesterday we spent the day planting tulip bulbs for next year's big tulip show in the Lily Pool Plaza and in the evening I planted some garlic in my own garden for next year's summer harvest. The plants are always focused on the future too. Above, next year's flower buds on a saucer magnolia, one of the first winter buds I learned to recognize because they are so big you can't possibly miss them. Below are the reddish buds of BBG's champion Kansas Hawthorn tree, a leaf bud I hope to remember from this year. I don't usually look forward to the winter, but this coming one maybe will bring the opportunity to appreciate and get to know the buds of trees.