To the editor:

As we are all spending more time at home following the coronavirus isolation guidelines, the importance of a garden is appropriate now more than ever. 

This time at home can be a period to reconnect with nature right in your own backyard. It can be viewed as an opportunity to take a closer look at your landscape and garden and to create a pleasing refuge for you and your family. 

Gardens have always been a sanctuary for respite, an outlet for artistic expressions, a place for experimenting with different growing methods and a practical space for growing food. I myself garden not just for the sheer beauty of it, but to also benefit wildlife. I can’t imagine a garden without watching the songbirds, bees and butterflies that are attracted to it for shelter and food. Planting native trees, shrubs and perennials without using pesticides keeps my garden a healthy habitat for the wildlife and my family, too. 

It’s a simple pleasure to watch springtime unfurl each day. So much happens in April and May. It’s a wonderful time to create a journal with children to record the “firsts” that develop daily. It’s also a great way for everyone to pay attention to what’s going on outdoors and to develop an appreciation for the natural world. This could be the year to really slow down and enjoy your garden and the season in your own backyard. 

To help with enjoying your garden, “Nature’s Best Hope” by Doug Tallamy, and “Blithewold’s A Year in the Garden: Planner by Gail Read, Betsy Ekholm and Joe Verstandig, offer excellent advice to begin your journey in the garden. Both are available at Barrington Books.

Spring is not cancelled! Discover the wonders of nature that happen each day, now that we have time.

Here's what's happening right outside your door:

• Spring peepers: These tiny frogs are out with their calls loud and clear especially at night (corner of Federal and Upland Way)

• Ospreys migrate back this month to Hundred Acre Cove

• Pussy Willows are blooming along with crocus and daffodils

• Red and silver maples are flowering.

• I saw my first bumble bee today on my flowering winter honeysuckle

Gail Read

Barrington

Ms. Read is Horticulturist, Gardens and Greenhouse Manager at Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum and board member of the Barrington Farm School.