March and the Advent of Spring - Vivien Schapera
- Relatable Media Team
- Mar 3
- 3 min read
Have you ever wondered which month triggers the best feelings in you? Sometimes, Vivien thinks that for her, it could be March. For one thing, March has two important birthdays in it – her son, Jason’s, and her granddaughter, Adina’s. For another thing, in March we see the first glimmers of Spring, culminating in the equinox, announcing more daylight and shorter nights. To be clear, it’s not only that the weather is warmer, sunnier and more reliable – it’s those delicious shoots of green, the delicate pink and white blossoms, and the bold, bright bulbs. What a relief after the deep nights and heavy skies of winter.
For everyone, Spring is a miracle, but for Vivien and Neil, it is even more so. In Vivien and Neil’s world, the advent of Spring means the advent of gardening and their entire back yard is a memorial to their son, Aidan. It just so happens that their garden design was slated to begin in the Spring of 2013, and it just so happens that Aidan passed during the cold days of winter, in January 2013. As a consequence, Vivien and Neil began their garden design and construction with hearts burdened by grief but also inspired by hope – hope that they would be able to bury their sorrow in the earth, where it could be transformed into joy.
Planning a garden design requires attention to many details. One of the most magical aspects of Vivien and Neil’s yard, is also one of its most frustrating. The fence-free properties in the Midwest allow the indigenous animals to roam freely. Bands of marauding deer regularly visit, treating the garden beds as their own personal salad bar. Over the fourteen years that Vivien has been choosing the perennials and annuals, she has sought to create a balance between native wild flowers like rudbeckia and echinacea, deer-proof vegetation like marigolds and ferns, and vivid tropicals, like impatience and begonias. Why not altogether avoid plants like impatience that attract the deer?
There are several reasons! One of the most important features of the garden design is the use of color. Each year, Vivien decides what the dominant color theme will be, weaving a thread of that color through the floral displays, creating exciting journeys for the eye. Additionally, Vivien uses white flowers to contrast and accentuate, allowing the intense pinks, purples, yellows, reds and oranges to pop. The trees, in turn, dictate a simple fact: begonias and impatience are the best prolifically-flowering shade annuals. Yes, it’s true that watching a brave begonia patiently grow week after week, only to see it chomped down to the nub in a matter of minutes, can trigger intense feelings of frustration and despair. But, coming across the fawns, safely tucked away under the trees, also triggers intense feelings – wonderful primal feelings of honoring the cycles of life and interacting with the blessings of Nature.
No garden is complete without water features and statuary. The proud centerpiece, and focal point, is a 3-tier fountain, under “the squirrel tree.” What is “the squirrel tree?” The biggest, oldest tree in the yard is affectionately known as “the squirrel tree” because the squirrels had a nest in it. The squirrel tree is also the keeper of a dear memory. In the summer before he passed, Aidan discovered a newborn squirrel that had been pushed out of the nest. He gave it water with a dropper, then propped a ladder up against the tree, and gently replaced it. That baby squirrel didn’t survive and after Aidan passed, all the squirrels disappeared, leaving the tree empty. Then, last year, when Vivien and Neil opened their garden to share with the public, the squirrels returned to nest in the tree. Once again, Vivien and Neil could watch as the baby squirrels emerged, and chased each other up and down, around and around.
Yes, it was this wonderful garden, with its play of opposites, that helped Vivien and Neil to heal from their loss, to reconnect with being here on Earth, and to engage happily again with the miracle of Life. Their garden has indeed turned sorrow into joy.
Vivien Schapera is an award-winning Teacher, Practitioner and Writer living in Cincinnati, OH USA. In private practice for over 40 years, she is also the founder of three schools, and the author of numerous blogs, vlogs, and books, including Everyday Magic and The Complete Guide to Crystal Surgery.
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Find out more at https://crystalhealingtechniques.com/.
Article published in The Relatable Voice Magazine - March 2025.
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