There was a day this past summer – after a stretch of several 90+ degree days – that I found myself walking languidly through the greenhouses at Faddegon’s Nursery, melting and sweating through a tank top and shorts, cursing the extreme heat and humidity, and ducking intermittently into the air-conditioned gift shop section while seeking out a friendly Australian tree fern that wouldn’t instantly expire after a single missed watering (to no avail).
Face flushed, peeling the front of my shirt away from my skin in quick fanning movements, I’m sweaty and uncomfortable on this hot summer day…
I think longingly of that discomfort as I pull a chunky cable-knit cardigan tighter to my chest today.
The greenhouse is deliciously different at night, especially in the winter months. Cooler in atmosphere and hue, it carries a more hushed vibe to it, quieter and more somber somehow, even with the vibrant poinsettias and flaming heads of cyclamen.
Being in the greenhouse around Christmas, especially in the early evening, always brings to mind the melting scene in ‘Frosty the Snowman’ – one of the more traumatic Christmas moments for a kid just trying to find joy in a song brought to animated life.
