A Final Thought: Northeast Ohio's slow crawl into spring

I moved from West Central Georgia to Northeast Ohio 35 years ago, and I still cannot get used to spring here. The season doesn’t seem to pay any attention to its official start—the spring equinox, which this year was on March 20.

Instead, we are now experiencing what James Beard award-winning and Pulitzer-prize nominated former Akron Beacon Journal food writer Jane Snow once called, “Northeast Ohio’s slow crawl into spring.”

Spring truly takes its time, and after all these years, I finally recognize the timeline: First come the crocuses, often emerging through a fresh dusting of snow; then daffodils, a yellow so bright against a grey backdrop that they have inspired many poets to pen celebratory odes about them.

Then come tulips in a glorious rainbow of colors, followed by forsythia—some growing wild on the edges of forgotten lawns and others trimmed into tight, neat hedges; then Japanese magnolias, whose beautiful white or pink blossoms typically turn brown and fall off because of frost, something they aren’t accustomed to because, well, they’re from the other side of the globe.

Still, whether we are patient or not, spring eventually arrives in all its glory. I try to appreciate this glory throughout the “slow crawl,” but it becomes challenging when you know the joy of a warm, bright summer is just on the other side of it.



When I try to explain a Cleveland spring to my friends and family back in Georgia, they don’t get it because they’re used to seeing daffodils before anyone has had a chance to take down their holiday decorations. So to help them grasp the concept, I developed this list:

Ten Ways You Know it’s Spring in Northeast Ohio:

1. You’re mowing the grass with your coat on.
2. You think the sewer has backed up then realize your mulch has been delivered. (Down South, they don’t use mulch; they use pine straw.
3. You notice a dandelion go from a yellow flower to a white seed ball to an empty stem all while your back is turned. They grow up faster than grandchildren.
4. You look at the 15-day forecast and fall into a deep depression.
5. You go to turn your compost pile and see vegetable scraps identifiable as Thanksgiving Day leftovers because they’ve been frozen for five months.
6. You experience a 50-degree temperature change in under 12 hours.
7. You buy ramps at the farmers market even though there are hundreds growing in the back of your property because you aren’t 100% sure they really are ramps. They might be hostas. In response to this item, Southerners ask, “What’s a ramp?”
8. The confetti from your neighbor’s Cinco de Mayo party is actually snow flurries.
9. You put the top down on your convertible and turn the heater on.
10. You discover that your hydrangeas didn’t survive the winter. Wait, yes, they did. No, they didn’t. Yes, they did!

Mitch@MimiVanderhaven.com