The Winter Doldrums are usually not as prominent in Florida as they are up north because of our sunny days, beaches, and our colors of flora. But when wintry weather hits our paradise,  destroying our beautiful colors, it changes our physical landscape as well as our mental joy.

I readily admit I don’t know the names of all my shrubs and 1,000 variations of palms which color my Florida world. But I do know how much it costs and how much my back and knees will scream when I’m going through the process of replanting. Gone are the multiple shades of purples, blues, reds, oranges, and yellows. Fruit trees look incredibly sad and brown grass, brown bushes and  brown palms have sucked up all my joy and positive energy! It was not only mean of Mother Nature destroying our much-beloved colors, she also played hell with our budgets!

Since 2017, I have replaced shrubs and trees twice because of hale and wintry weather. I laughed once when I saw plastic flowers in a garden, but I totally understand now why the choice was made. My heart wants me to grab a paint brush and start painting color in my yard, but my brain knows that it is not a viable solution. Perhaps I’ll try colorful rocks and metal yard art as a temporary solution.

Patience is a virtue which has evaded me my entire life. I, like many others, will be forced to wait until March to see which small miracles will suddenly pop again with color. As for my brown losers, I’ll build muscle digging, redesigning, and replanting my front yard’s color pallet  The possibility of Florida art screams at us to make our yards beautiful once again. And we must answer the call!