With winter being only a memory, it is the winter plants Echeveria (the beauties on my homepage) and Aloes (below) that teach me a lesson I value.
These plants are the water-wise, low-maintenance ones that blossom in winter, giving us an array of colours when almost all other plants are in ‘hibernation’. These plants and especially the wide variety of Aloes can withstand the harshest temperatures. In fact, they need direct sunlight to be at their best.
In its rich diversity, the Aloe brings physical healing to our bodies and, if you are like me, you love its simple form.
The best part of the Aloe is that they blossom when everything around them is dry and dusty. Their time to ‘shine’ is mainly in winter. Each cultivar has its own colour and time to adorn our gardens, but most of all our urban and agricultural open spaces. In a typical winter landscape, you can spot their red, orange, yellow and sometimes white flowers from afar.
The Echeveria plant, called the desert rose, has less extravagant flowers, but they announce the change of season from winter to spring by being some of the first to blossom. This rosette of mostly waxy leaves can be seen between the rocks in remote, mountainous areas or in our gardens.
The beauty of these two types of plants, I see winter after winter, reminds me that our environment is not supposed to dictate our emotional state. They remind me that I can blossom and ‘shine’ like them when all is dusty and dry around me and it feels like winter will never stop.
They further remind me to stay calm when everything feels like it is burning down or falling apart. And that the winter season will eventually end.
Difficult seasons of pain, hardship, trouble, distress and suffering do end and seasons change if we keep these plants in mind when we feel hopeless and tired of the current dry and dusty season.
Copyright Annalie Anticevich © November 2022
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