Thinking about the bombings in Boston and fertilizer plant explosions as I drove between projects in Bethesda and Garrett Park, the play list was all Bruce Springsteen. Easy to feel like the speaker in ‘Reason to Believe’ sometimes: ‘Struck me kind of funny, seemed kind of funny man to me, how at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe.’

But today was gorgeous- clear and in the 70’s, and when I got home, one of my favorite plants was starting to push out its leaves:

When we planted this Greybush (Lindera glauca var. salicifolia: http://www.pleasantrunnursery.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/310/index.htm) a few weeks ago, our neighbor wondered if it was dead. Deciduous, but with leaves that persist over the winter, it screens the way an evergreen does in the winter, with a leaf that reminds me of those of a beech tree in the winter woodlands. The fall color is the most gorgeous I’ve ever seen.

Seeing the leaves push out on the Greybush, I smiled and changed the song on my phone to ‘The Rising’ -blaring it so loud my kids told their middle aged mom to turn down the music…But this is why I garden.

‘Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin’ the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin’ down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight’
-Bruce Springsteen ‘The Rising’