Spring with its warm days is always my favorite time of year. I love to watch everything come back to life in the gardens. I welcome the dandelions, which bring the first splash of color. Later, I may hate the long stems and seeds flying around, but I love their bright yellow.

Gardening has always been a favorite activity. I had gardens in most of the homes my husband and I lived in. Some were small, others larger. We grew flowers and vegetables.

This week the church Memorial Garden committee met with the landscaper to pick out trees and bushes. Last fall the 40-year-old and over-grown ones were cut out. Our landscaper cleaned and replaced the pavers and outlined the cross shape of the garden with contrasting blocks. Monday, we picked out two dogwoods and other bushes for planting.

Today was designated as church clean-up day. This morning I spent over an hour helping plant perennials and annuals around the church. Unfortunately I ran out of energy and had to quit.

When I returned from the church, I looked at my own small raised bed and assessed its growth and what I should plant to improve it.

Finally, I have been looking the pictures I took during the twenty years I lived in my former home. Most of pictures were taken to put in my garden book to document the plants and their blooms at a given time. With an acre of land, I built several gardens. The last couple of years I lived there, I lacked the energy to maintain so many of them, and concentrated on fewer ones, which were close to the house.

Now I enjoy gardening my small plot for perennials, a small bed for tomatoes, and decorative boxes and pots on my porch.