Saugus Gardens in the Spring

Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable

By Laura Eisener

This month’s full moon will occur Monday, March 25, and it is the first full moon of astronomical spring. Since spring’s first full moon occurs after the vernal equinox, it is also called the paschal moon because it determines the date Easter occurs. The traditional nickname for March’s full moon is the worm moon, since the thawing ground allows worms to come to the surface. Robins (Turdus migratorius) seem to be already aware of this, as I have seen several around turning over leaves in the garden and looking for any early worms. While some robins have been around all winter, additional individuals have arrived from farther north, so people will be noticing more of them in the coming weeks.

Robins are often considered among the signs that spring has arrived. Robins seen now have likely spent the winter farther south, and those we had all winter have left to go north. While our robins got their common name from a similarly red-breasted European bird, they are not closely related. Our American robin is among the first birds to build nests in the spring, and their pale blue eggs are very distinctive in color.

Daffodils (Narcissus spp.) are starting to bloom around town, especially in warm sunny spots near house foundations. Small flowering species like “Tete a Tete” are usually a little earlier to bloom than the classic larger sizes, and it may still be more than a month before the late blooming Poeticus daffodils flower. Sometimes known as Lenten lilies because they typically flower just before Easter – and despite the fact that this year Easter is somewhat early – the warmish weather this winter has also produced early blossoms on the daffodils. While it is difficult to see a large group of daffodils without thinking of William Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” other poems have also featured daffodils. A.A. Milne, best known as the author of “Winnie the Pooh,” wrote a playful one, which starts, “She wore her yellow sunbonnet, she wore her greenest gown, she turned to the south wind, and curtseyed up and down.”

Some people like the bobbing bonnet, while others find the drooping shape of the flower head sad. In recent decades, daffodils may have become the most popular of the spring bulbs because they are showy but also are not eaten by deer, rabbits or other animals that may happily devour tulips and crocuses.

Nantucket is known for its daffodil festival, and other places in New England also have extensive daffodil plantings since they can be relied upon to survive for decades, and often multiply. Daffodils are also tolerant of a wide range of soils and light conditions, being tolerant of sun or part shade. They can even be grown in a lawn as long as the gardener is willing to wait until the daffodil foliage has matured before mowing.

Most of the flowers that bloom this early in spring have their blossoms mostly formed in the previous growing season, since not much time has gone by since the ground thawed out to permit much plant activity. Bulbs in the ground are a very efficient way to store the partially formed leaves and blossoms over the winter for quick development in spring, but some other plants are also getting ready to bloom. This year we can hope for more blossoms on the forsythia than we saw last year, and blossoms on plums and cherries are not far away. Around the Potomac River Basin in Washington, DC, the cherry blossoms are already blooming.

Pansies (Viola tricolor hortensis or Viola wittrockiana) are also coming along early, with full bloom on plants at First Baptist Church on Main Street. Each plant is loaded with little yellow and purple blossoms. There are also pansy plants in bloom at the top of the driveway at Bernie and Phyl’s Furniture on Route 1 where cold-tolerant varieties have been flowering most of the winter. “Wake up, thou pansy, purple-eyed, and greet the dewy spring,” says Fannie Isabel Sherrick’s poem “Easter.” Fannie was an American poet active during the 1860’s.

  Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.