“As the Leaves Turn” is a gardener’s soap opera brought to you by our sponsors.

When we left the gardener at the end of Episode 1, she had just received a package from the postman.  Now at the beginning of Episode 2…

She looks at the box and notices that it says to “open immediately” and then she sees another sticker that says “bulbs”.

Though delighted to receive this package she notes it was not the package she had been waiting for.  But always one to follow instructions, she opens the box immediately.

Carefully she reviews its contents, an odd mixture of bulbs she ordered from an end of season sale at Old House Gardens Heirloom Bulbs.  There were five trillium bulbs, three hyacinth bulbs of the variety ‘Chestnut Flower’, and ten corms of an almost forgotten by time, dark purple variety of crocus.

She reads the lovely note an actual person wrote on the invoice and smiles at the personal nature of what so often is an impersonal transaction, online ordering.

The trillium planting instructions started with “plant immediately”, so she changes her clothes, finds her digging knife and heads directly outside to plant the trilliums and the crocuses.  She is undecided on whether or not to plant the hyacinths outside or put them in her refrigerator to cool for a few months and then force into early winter bloom after the holidays.

She pauses as she ponders her planting options for the hyacinths and notices off in the distance what she thinks is a tiny pillywiggin.  She rubs her eyes and the pillywiggin is gone.

Satisfied she has done her best to follow the bulb planting instructions, she heads inside, still wondering when her next package will arrive. She looks online for tracking information and is shocked to see where her package is.

Tune in tomorrow for another episode of “As the Leaves Turn” to find out if Carol receives her package tomorrow, or is forced to wait another day after that.  Learn what a pillywiggin is and why it would be in her garden.