Expert: Long Island Gardener - 3/29/2007

Question
Last spring I had three Star Gazer Lilies to come up in the corner of my patio, one pink and s white one to come up on each side of the pink one, they just appeared out of no where, as if they were put there to comfort me as my dear husband had just passed away suddenly, so i wrote in and ask how to keep the bulbs alive in the winter, as i live in northern Illinois , i was afraid they wouldn,t survive the winter , they were just beautiful, and i was informed how to care  for them after they completely died , and i did every thing , they told me to. but i cant see any sign of them coming through the ground yet. Am i being to impatient? If so when are they supposed to start coming up?


My heart felt thanks for any feed back you can give me.
  Mildred,

Answer
Hold your horses, Mildred.  It's too early for Lilies to come up!  The Tulips are barely out of the ground!  What's your rush?

Relax.  If God wants those Lilies back this year, He will do that.  Your husband most certainly does not want you to worry about this.  Neither do I.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee.  Sit down.  Listen to me for a minute.

Every day the sun rises, it's a new day.  We get up and face all kinds of problems and disappointments.  And along the way, we have friends, and we do things, and we enjoy ourselves.  We have lunch, dinner, we watch TV.  And then the day is over.  Another day, gone by.

This happens every single day.

Some of us like to garden.  We grow flowers, some of us love Roses, some of us are passionate about our Grass.  Some people love Lilies.  Some are crazy about Cactus.  Because we are all different.  And yet we're all the same.  Because we are all human.

And as humans do, we love.  And sometimes the people we love must leave.  This happens every day, Mildred, all over the world.  Not just to you and to me.  To everyone.

Our gardens often have special meanings to us at certain times of our lives.  They are not always just plants to us.  Sure, we can go out to the store and buy lots of plants.  But sometimes, one plant happens to take on a very special meaning for us, because it comes along at a time of our life, one special day, with deeper meaning for us.  And it becomes something very important.  Sometimes it becomes Extremely Important.  And we worry about it as though it was very, very, very important, as though we depend on it.

But nothing can every take away the memories we have shared with people who love us.  That's the truth, Mildred.

Our plants may not be perfect.

But no one ever can take those memories away.

Remember that.

And if those beautiful Lilies return this spring, let me know, and we'll take care of them again this summer.  If they don't, Mildred, go out and buy some more.  They are beautiful and they are wonderful flowers, the smell so good, they look so pretty, and your husband most certainly would want you to have them.  I'm sure of it.

Thanks for writing.  Keep me posted.  Thanks for the coffee.