Gardening gives people a distinct advantage in dealing with the psychological fallout from our beastly winter.
Sailing? The ice got so thick that we're going to need to borrow an icebreaker from the Coast Guard for Lake Calhoun. Taking a leisurely walk? It'll be leisurely, all right, because we'll have to shuffle along like penguins on the slick sidewalks. Sure, there's spring training baseball, but the nearest game is 1,200 miles away.
Gardeners have it easy. Starting Sunday, all they have to do is go to the downtown Minneapolis Macy's store, walk into the eighth-floor auditorium for the annual flower show and — presto! — instant June.
I'm not much of a gardener. In fact, it took several years before my wife allowed me near our garden without adult supervision. (OK, there was that unfortunate incident with the self-propelled lawn mower … )
But an extensive gardening background isn't necessary to enjoy the flower show. In fact, it might be a distraction.
While gardeners might be driven to dutifully study the labels on every plant, non-gardeners like me can just head for the bamboo garden, sit on one of the benches and Zen out while inhaling the intoxicating aroma of damp soil and listening to the gentle sound of bubbling water.
Where, oh where, have those things been for the past six months? Done in by relentless snowstorms and record-low temperatures since early November, of course. But I'm counting on forgetting all of that intervening trauma while I'm sitting there.
I confessed my approach to the show to Dale Bachman, CEO of Bachman's and the person who personally oversees the intricate arrangements of thousands of plants. I was worried that he would take offense at my poor gardening IQ.