Happy Lady Day, Happy New Year

While you're out enjoying your spring garden, consider this cool fact. Today was the start of the year for many gardeners in past centuries.

It's true. From the twelfth century until the calendar changed in 1752, March 25 began the year (not Jan. 1) on the Old Style calendars in England and Ireland. In the Italian cities of Florence and Pisa, this day held the honor until 1749.

Today is also called 'Lady Day' or the Feast of the Annunciation. On this day, it was said the Archangel Gabriel proclaimed to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a son nine months later. In the ancient Roman calendar reformed by Caesar, this day was mistakenly considered the spring equinox. 

When you look around the garden, it's easy to see why so many different religions and cultures have celebrated new beginnings around this time. Seeds are sprouting all over the place right now.

Speaking of seeds, have you started yours yet? Prefer hybrid seeds? Or heirlooms? Want to see what seeds I'm sowing in 2009? What's growing in your garden?

Update: See some of the seeds I'm sowing in 2010.

For more information on seasonal folklore, consider the two sources used for this blog post:

• The Oxford Book of Days, B. Blackburn, Oxford University Press
• The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, C. Kightly, Thames and Hudson

Spring Equinox 2009

Spring began officially in the Northern Hemisphere with the spring equinox at 5:44 MT this morning. (That's mountain time, which is what we follow here in Idaho.)

From this point forward, the days will grow longer than the nights until the summer solstice on June 21, 2009.

Considering it's the start of spring, it's especially exciting to announce that President Obama announced yesterday that they will grow a Victory Garden at the White House. Learn more about this exciting initiative.

Cool trivia about the spring equinox:

• Some believe the spring equinox is when the days and nights are exactly the same length. That's not exactly true, according to National Geographic.

• Easter and the spring equinox have more in common than you may think. Easter falls on the Sunday on or after the full moon that follows the Equinox. Many of Easter's symbols (eggs and rabbits, for example) are spring fertility symbols that date back to pre-Christian times.

• The spring equinox is now considered the official start to spring. But in traditional calendars, spring's emergence was typically celebrated in early-February.

Here in Boise, we're having one of those warm, sweetly scented days that illustrate why people get "spring fever."

For those of you, who believe spring will never come. Consider these words from Henry Van Dyke:

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between the two is sometimes as great as a month."

Keep the faith, spring will arrive for you too.