What Makes Your Spirits Rise?

There are a few things that raise my spirits up. Some of those things are seeing my children or holding and hugging one of my grandchildren, getting into the writing zone, going to the beach, or being pulled into a good book. But when I feel down or when the days are dark, all I have to do is go to a greenhouse and walk through it and my spirits soar.

 

I used to work at a greenhouse…LMS on Wagner Road in Hampton. My main job was planting all those tiny baby plugs that would come in at an endless stream. Sometimes, there would be trays filled with those baby plugs filling up one of the potting benches. It seemed like an endless task at hand. Once the cells and pots were filled with soil…the planting could begin. It was easy to bang out and plant a number of those trays.

 

What I loved about the greenhouse was that I would arrive on a rainy day or one of those snowy days in winter, get out of my car and walk into the greenhouse where everything was blooming. The beauty of the plants and the amazing flowers that were starting to bloom in a tiny plug, the size of tiny finger nails always made me catch my breath. The colors were dazzling:  brilliant corals, pristine white, majestic purples, and royal blues and more were a wonder to behold.

 

Of course there were the distinctive aromas of the plants, especially if I was working with the herbs, like the wonderful smell of basil, lemon balm, or Rosemary. Working with the herbs would always make my stomach grumble and then I would have to pull out a packet of peanut butter cheese crackers or peel a banana and eat it.

 

Now that I no longer work at the greenhouse, it doesn’t stop me from visiting it. I happen to have driven over to the place that I worked for recently and still found that I was filled with all those amazing feelings. I walked through a few of the greenhouses and could smell the earthy aroma of the potting soil and there in front of me were some of those tiny plugs that were in pots beckoning me to come over closer to them.

 

The pottery and garden items were all on display as were some of the garden statues. But what caught my eye was the new display of miniature items for The Fairy Gardens. But that is my next story.

 

For a while on a snowy day…I felt at home in the greenhouse, and my spirits started to rise. I made a few purchases and said goodbye to my old friends and left the store happy with the knowledge that the greenhouse still held all its magic and it still affected me in a wonderful way.