The weather can be fickle this time of year, but I can stand it knowing that the merry month of May is not far away. And I often measure the march of spring by the sequence of flowering shrubs.

There are good reasons to grow vegetables from seed. There are so many more choices when you’re buying seeds. For instance, the Garden Center stocks 50 varieties of tomato seedlings. If you look at seeds though, you can choose from 134 cherries, currants, slicers and pastes.

Are you thinking that your yard doesn’t have room for another plant? Something about the promise of Spring makes us think that we can, and will, find room to plant absolutely everything. After all, there are worse things to collect than new plants. And gardens have always provided very fertile ground for dreaming.

Imagine an old-fashioned garden. Maybe you can feel the warm spring breezes on your face. As you settle into the fantasy, is there a fragrance that comes to mind? I’d bet that you’re breathing in the memory of a lilac in full bloom.

Though early spring weather is fickle, we count on April to be a more golden month. Don’t you find yourselves looking for any excuse to be outdoors in the early spring sunshine?