A commonplace observation

Pansies planted yesterday in two urns next to the front steps have already found the sun. (Don Dale 2010 photo)

Fall planting is an act of faith -- a demonstrated conviction that we'll survive the coming winter to appreciate spring anew.

Planting is always an act of faith. Ask the farmer who earns his living in his fields or the gardener who takes pleasure in getting his hands dirty. Both put things in the ground with the hope that they'll survive and flourish. All the while, they know it's a crap shoot.

I completed the last of the fall planting yesterday. I've put down grass seed front and back, added a pink crape myrtle to bring some color next summer to a spot along the fence in the back yard, added to a row of yellow and red tulips along the front walkway, filled in a few bare spots in the daffodil bed under the big maple in the back, and replaced the impatiens with pansies in two urns on either side of the front-porch steps. The pansies, which bloom even through snowstorms, will provide winter cheer. They'll tide me over when the days are ragged and short.

Sure, there are those who will say that rattling on about investing in springtime is trite. They're right. It's trite because it's commonplace, because everybody who plants is moved to express the agreeable emotions that accompany the act. So call me trite.

But call me next spring, too, when my tulips and daffodils are in bloom, and I'll tell you how much I'm enjoying the display of color. Faith in the future -- even though it's demonstrated with just a few seeds, bulbs, plants and shrubs -- distinguishes us as a species.