Easter Under Lockdown

OK, I’m not really in a cage, but sometimes I feel like I am! Photo: laidbackgardener.com

This is going to be a very different Easter! Like most people, the coronavirus pandemic sees my wife and I in self-isolation, confined to our home. Other Easters, we’d have been sharing a delicious Easter brunch with the extended family, then participating in the grandkids’ Easter egg hunt. And probably overdosing on chocolate as well. This year, we’ll have to make do with seeing family members on a screen and we’ll probably just have toast and eggs for breakfast. And I don’t think there’s any chocolate anywhere in the house*.

*Stop the presses! Yesterday, after I finished writing this blog, our daughter-in-law made a surprise visit to our doorstep and dropped off two chocolate eggs, one for each of us. Easter chocolate is thus assured!

But is that really so bad? None of us is sick, nor is anyone in the family, thank goodness. That’s something to celebrate. And spring is here. A bit reluctantly outdoors, perhaps (where I live, snow still dominates the landscape at this season), although maybe a snowdrop or two will push through. You probably have flowers in your garden by now: at least spring bulbs, maybe cherries and forsythias and hellebores too. Do take the time to appreciate them and to soak up the pleasure they bring!

But spring is definitely here indoors. I have “Easter flowers” galore right now. OK, maybe none are traditional Easter blooms, but that’s of little importance. I have orchids, amaryllis, begonias, anthuriums, spathiphyllums, African violets, Thanksgiving cactus, streptocarpus, crown of thorns, sinningias and much more in bloom. And judging from the look of the buds on some of my hibiscus, one or two should be in bloom on Easter Sunday. And there are all sorts of happy, healthy foliage plants in shades of spring green if not other bright shades. That’s color enough. 

Also, my daughter-in-law and her three kids brought us an Easter gift earlier this week (we got to wave at them through the living room window!): a pot with three different blooming kalanchoes in it. It’s much appreciated and reigns on our dining room table. 

And of course, I have my seedlings. Trays and trays of them. Yes, I know, seedlings aren’t flowers, but they’re my harbingers of spring. Every day (and in fact, several times every day), I get out of my office chair to check on them. Not that I really think something has happened to them that would need my attention in the 2 hours since I last looked, but there’s something so exciting and satisfying about watching young plants grow. I actually touch them, stroke them, hume their greenness: it gives me energy. And they really do change in appearance at least daily. Every visit fills my heart with joy and hope. 

May your Easter be as joyful as mine!