Cultivating
Spring :
Remembering
Warmer Times
Holly Hammond
Few things are as intoxicating as
the advent of spring: a time for new
beginnings and being outdoors with
the people we cherish most. While
Floridians don’t exactly experience a
cosmic shift from winter to spring like
we do up here in Lexington, Kentucky,
there’s still something about spring
in West Orlando; when visiting a
theme park doesn’t entail melting into
oblivion; when sharing cocktails on
a rooftop bar doesn’t yet necessitate
multiple layers of deet and deodorant.
Starting at the beginning of March,
everyone in Winter Garden,
Windermere, and beyond begins
paying attention to their yards,
again. My house was no exception.
It was something of a point of pride
for my mom to generate curbside
appeal worth celebrating. I remember
helping my parents haul bags of
top soil to our landscaping beds to
mitigate the naturally sandy earth
while (ironically?) blasting Tears for
Fears’ “Sowing the Seeds of Love” on
my boombox. I remember running
my fingers through the texture of the
soil as it became blacker and blacker
– ready for planting.
Orlando’s 9b plant hardiness zone
allows for many subtropical varieties
of plants and trees, but my mom
always liked to push the limit, opting
for fan palms, elephant ears, giant
lilies, bird of paradise. If I close my
eyes and remember hard enough, I
can still smell the remnants of the
first hibiscus blooms of the season. In
my mind’s eye I can still conjure my
golden retriever, Rusty, dousing them
with chlorinated water while daring
to jump off the diving board, creating
a giant tidal wave in our pool as he
aggressively sought after a tennis ball
I just threw.
My mom was originally from Upstate
New York – Corning, specifically. In
the midst of the terribly cold and
unforgiving winters, her family
traveled to St. Croix, in the US Virgin
Islands, where her love for tropical
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WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE
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MARCH 2019