In Just-spring when the world is mud-luscious...

Surely the poet e.e. cummings was thinking about New Hampshire as he wrote the opening lines to his poem in Just. And isn't the word mudluscious just perfect to describe the month of April? Unless you are a newcomer here, you know that the Granite State has four seasons: summer, fall, winter, and mud.

With the deeper ground often still frozen, the spring rains and the melting snow turn the top layer of soil into a quagmire which makes traveling on our dirt roads a challenge. After a long cold winter though, it’s a challenge many welcome, for with it comes the first signs of returning life.

Cummings goes on to say that in spring, the world is puddle-wonderful. And so it is. Suddenly one day you hear a strange cracking sound and you know the frogs and toads are back. Ending their winter hibernation, the Eastern American toads have dug their way out of their burrows and traveled back to their vernal breeding pools, and now the males are croaking away for a mate with all the volume, enthusiasm, and ardor the mating season demands.

Joining them are the big bullfrogs that wintered underwater in the mud and leaves. From the hearty trill of the gray treefrog to the high-pitched, bell-like chorus of the spring peepers, the night sounds of spring give us reason to rejoice in mud. Without standing water, few if any of the toads or frogs would be able to mate, and our springs would be strangely and sadly quiet without their calls.

If you sit quietly for a while near a vernal pool or a ditch or the backwaters of a stream, you’re likely to find another amphibian now that spring has encouraged you to explore-the eastern or red-spotted newt. Although the young efts (terrestrial stage of a newt) will hibernate under logs or rocks all winter, the adult newts are often still active under the ice. Come spring, though, they are ready to mate. The adult females can lay 200-375 eggs, but only in unpolluted water. Since adults consume thousands of mosquito larvae and ticks, they, like the frogs and toads, are nice to have around.

For months, the landscape has been brown, the ground covered with snow. But now, the melting and slowly increasing warmth have brought about a transformation at the ends of certain branches. Here the pussy willow, with its happy wet feet, starts to show just a bit of gray. In a short time, the gray expands to the soft, familiar flower of the plant. The sight of the pussy willow in the wetlands bordering a road is another welcome reminder of the value of these watery areas.

And here in this soggy area, the green leaves of the marsh marigold appear. It won't be long before its yellow flowers will burst out. Does any flower proclaim spring with as much vigor and pizzazz? Much lovelier than the later dandelion, the marsh marigold makes a joyful statement about marsh life in the spring.

In cummings’s poem, the children eddieandbill and bettyandisbel come out to enjoy the spring. The whistle of the “old balloonman” beckon them to follow him. You can almost smell the fresh, stirring air as they play marbles and pirates and jump-rope and hop-scotch. Their names run together as they run around, exploding in the warmth of the new season.

The poem hints at a darker, deeper side of the mudluscious and puddle-wonderful season, hinting at the loss of innocence, as the “goat-footed balloonMan” (Pan) leads the children farther and farther away. We hear his whistle far and wee and understand that the children have gone with him. Are we, too, being led astray? Are we following paths that may destroy that which we so enjoy and need?

The plants and amphibians who live in our muddy pools bring us not only early signs of returning life after a long winter; they also act as barometers of the health of the wetlands, and ultimately, to the health of the planet. From newts’ breeding only in unpolluted waters, to the sad and alarming disappearance of many of our native toads and frogs, we can learn much about the effects of pollution and habitat loss.

How long can marsh marigolds and pussy willows live in water too sick for a newt to survive in? How sad would spring be if the frogs and toads, newts and marsh marigolds disappeared? Mud alone is not enough to make spring a beautiful time of the year.

Personally, I hope the sound of the frog choruses will drown out Pan as he whistles his way through our “mudlucious” spring. I bet you do too.

By Susan M. Poirier, Master Gardener