PANSY PASSION

I love that moment in April when the air smells like liquid Spring for the first time, so sweet and soft.  On these mornings, the birds fill the air with song and the dogs are giddy with delight because they can feel grass beneath their paws instead of snow.  And I love the march of Spring flowers.  The Snowdrops come first, sometimes blooming through or beside the snow, and then come the Crocuses, but the first flowers to appear at the Garden Center for planting are the Pansies.  I love them, maybe because they were loved by my Grandmother, and maybe just because they are beautiful and smell so heavenly.

Is there anything prettier than the light shining through a copper Pansy?  I admit, I go a bit crazy when it comes to Pansies.  I buy them for the front porch, and for the old cast iron fountain/planter that sits in the center of my garden path, then I go out and buy more.  I love the light blue and the dark purple, the pale, pale yellow ones, and I go wild over the copper ones.  What can I say . . . it's Pansy Passion!  And I tell myself that I need every, single one because this Spring, like every other, I will be painting Pansies.  So I guess I'd better get out paper and paint, because I've just been on a buying spree!