These brilliant yellow kalanchoe flowers surely would brighten the darkest corner, as if a spray of sunshine were sitting above the fleshy (and edible) leaves. We haven’t had much sun in the past few days, so I needed a bit of bright colour to lift my mood and warm the temperatures that have teasingly turned from warm and spring-like to suddenly cold again. The fire is lit once more and curtains drawn in the evening to keep the heat in. We know we are on the right side of winter, here in the Northern hemisphere, but I do wish the weather would not be as fickle as it has been just lately. I have a cure for it in this Flower a Day photo, which I send with my warm hugs to you all! Keep smiling, my friends.

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My number one Flower a Day scout called me the other day to say she had found another subject for me, so a few days later I climbed the stairs of an old barn to find an evening class in progress. The low sun filtered through a window onto a busy (small, masked, distanced) group of potters at work. The clivia was just next to the window amongst a group of pots filled with plants, so that the light fell nicely onto these beautiful flowers and the surrounding leaves and greenery. I sat on the floor, getting my jeans coated with clay dust, cocooned in an atmosphere of artistic creativity and the quiet humming of potters wheels turning and got the photograph you see here. There was such a lovely feeling in this little loft studio, the evening sun warming the room, that I felt I could have stayed there all evening, enjoying the friendly productivity going on all around me. I love how my project has been contributed to by some of my friends locally, making it even more meaningful for me and perhaps to all of you. We need to remind ourselves that this community spirit is still alive and well – and living at least near Canning, Nova Scotia. Keep that spirit up as you can, it’s too important to lose it. (But I want to know how those flowers stay so pristine in that dusty studio…)

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Now moving into the new season with actual flowers about to make their appearance (not many, at least not yet) I wanted to remind myself and my readers of the last flings of one of last season’s flowers. Here, in these hanging heads are the seeds, the promise of what is to come this year. I am ready for them now, where I was not at this time last year. They can bring on their wild (and even some tamed) beauties! We will be ready for them. They might look a little dull now, but we know what colour and intricate detail they contained in their promise, as they were just preparing to go dormant for the winter – the winter we are just emerging from! So let us hope that we can also emerge in some way stronger and ready to take on whatever challenges come our way. We (I) might feel drab and maybe a little tired at this point, but I am going to make the most of every minute of this coming season. And I will share this ‘most’ that I plan to make here, with you. That is my promise, friends.

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Our outdoor garden centre sections of hardware stores and supermarkets are not yet set up, though the lawnmowers have already made their appearance, lined up in battalions against the outside walls. It’s still not reliably warm enough to risk putting plants outside, but I know it won’t be long before they start to fill up with green promise. In the meantime, the interior of the store is overflowing with lovely tones of different hydrangeas like this one for you for Flower a Day. I hope this pretty one makes a good start to your day, my friends, while those of us in the colder part of the Northern hemisphere wait for things to really get growing here. I have my eye on some crocuses that will hopefully open if this cold rain will stop long enough for them to catch their breaths! Until tomorrow, sending hugs!

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