You may remember a newsletter from a few years ago about the Iron Horse, my trusty bike that has been with me since college. I finally retired it in the fall of last year and got a bike that was a little lighter, actually had suspension, and beefier tires. I haven’t had as many opportunities as I would like to ride over the past few months, but in recent weeks, I’ve carved out some time to do something for me. Going biking is a great way to relieve some stress and clear my head.

This week I went out to Alafia River State Park to really put my bike through its paces. There isn’t much true mountain biking in Florida, but Alafia has a plethora of hills, rocks, roots, logs, drops, and jumps. And man was it fun. I warmed up on a few of the easier trails and then headed over to a fun one named Rollercoaster. At some point on the trail, I had a decision to make. Mountain bike trails are labeled like ski runs: green, blue, black diamond and double black diamond, with green being the easiest and double black diamond being Watch Out. Anyways, this black diamond trail named Derailed forked off of the trail I was on. I was feeling good, so I said to myself, ‘Why Not?’

I probably should have thought twice about going on a trail named Derailed. I had a couple of good minutes going up and down, twisting and turning, and then on one of the downhills, my front wheel slipped, and I pitched hard off of my bike and took the full impact on my shoulder. Ouch. After my spill, all I could hear my girls’ voices from that morning telling me not to break a leg, and I did at least live up to that promise. I managed to pick myself up, walked a bit to shake it off and then rode the remainder of Rollercoaster to get back to my car. I knew something wasn’t right with my shoulder and as it turns out I broke my collarbone and separated a tendon or ligament in the area as well. And now I’m off the bike for a while and having to put a variety of projects on hold. Kim says it’s a pretty extreme way of getting a day off. The girls, I’m sure, will be more careful with how they wish me luck next time, including all bones, not just my legs.

Circumstantially, I have ended up with a few Saturdays off. We were ready to go with the Simple Landscape Seminar this past Saturday, but the severe weather came through right at 10am. We apologize for the last-minute cancellation, but with so many exposed areas in the nursery, and the greenhouse not being a safe structure in a thunderstorm, we thought it was safer for everyone not to do the seminar. We are working on a video version of it and will let you know when we’ve got it ready.

And I get this Saturday off as well. At 10am, there will be a seminar on Container Gardening, and flower expert Jo Donohoe will teach you all about creating amazing flower combinations and planting them in gorgeous pots. It will be a perfect spring weeked, with much better weather than last Saturday.

This great spring weather really brings out the best in all of our plants. It’s the time of year where an e-newsletter is not nearly enough space to show you all of the gorgeous things that have come in. New crape myrtles, mango trees, and citrus, lots of Proven Winner flowers, hydrangeas, houseplants, . . . so many beautiful things. Since I can’t bike for a while, I know I’m turning to my garden for a little mind-clearing and soul rejuvenation. I’ll bet you are too.