spring

Welcome spring: celebrate windy days & garden plans!

Start planning a flower garden! Draw a picture, make a collage, write out a seeds list! Remember: flowers, herbs & vegetables. Select any clear piece of paper & enjoy a creative & imaginative burst of spring! Whether your sketches, lists & collages capture a dream or plan your course for spring, it is fun to imagine a new landscape! Three ideas from our garden notes: Plan a white garden to reflect moonlight on summer evenings: moonflowers, snapdragons, nicotiana. Plan a scent-filled garden: lavender, gilly-flowers (stock), lemon-scented thyme. Plan a container garden full of your favorite fruits and vegetables. Imagine picking 3 fresh strawberries after work ... or finding one sweet cucumber on your own vine! Make a little garden notebook!	Windy days ahead . . . batten the hatches & share some poetry! Enjoy a wind celebration . . . make a kite book!
	Christina Rossetti Who has seen the wind? Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.
Our favorite place to collect seeds? Our garden, our friends' gardens, our neighbors gardens . . . . . . but, we also enjoy the range of seeds offered by specialty companies. These are our family favorites for inspiration & the photos are great for collages! We prefer the printed versions of each company's offerings but the web sites are a useful resource. J.W. Jung Seed Company www.jungseed.com Park Seed (800)845-3369 1 Parkton Ave. Greenwood SC 29647-0001 www.parkseed.com The Cook's Garden (800) 457-9703 Post Office Box 535 Londonderry, VT 05148 www.cooksgarden.com (Enjoy Mary Azarian's illustrations!) Comments: informative, lovely to look at, conscientious, feels-good-to-grow products Harris Seeds (800) 514-4441 355 Paul Road P.O. Box 24966 Rochester, NY 14624-0966 Henry Field's (800) 798-7842 415 North Burnett Shenandoah, Iowa 51602-0001 Gurney's (800)824-6400 110 Capital Street Yankton, South Dakota 57079 www.mySEASONS.com Veseys www.veseys.com Burpee (800) 888-1447 300 Park Avenue Warminster, PA 18991-0001 www.burpee.com Comments: slick site, great photo resource with index to quickly turn up a photo of a flower to show your favorite child (or to teach yourself!)	excerpt from A Windy Day by James Whitcomb Riley The dawn was a dawn of splendor, And the blue of the morning skies Was as placid and deep and tender As the blue of a baby's eyes; The sunshine flooded the mountain, And flashed over land and sea Like the spray of a glittering fountain.- But the wind-the wind-Ah me!
	Sing-a-long windy list: Let's Go Fly a Kite, Mary Poppins Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler Blowin' in the wind, Bob Dylan Running against the wind, Bob Seger The Autumn Wind, Pete Seeger Colors of the Wind, Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz Dust in the Wind, Kerry Livgren Enjoy windy day stories, like Winnie-the-Pooh's Blustery Day! more great books in reading

Creating celebrations, whether for a traditional holiday, a special family occasion or an invented reason, will help you share shining hours with your favorite children. Getting ready to celebrate something can be as much fun for children as the actual celebratory event.

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