Spring had begun and in Layton's books that could only mean one thing. Flowers! Spring time always signaled the blooming of flowers. No two ways around it.

After a trip to the local plant nursery, Layton had returned with bags of seeds, plotted plants- all the things she needed to begin her garden once more.

Gardens were one of her favorite things. They were quiet, they didn't talk to you, they didn't demand anything from you. But if you showed them love and attention, they bloomed beautifully and showered you with pretty flowers. Well, not all of them were flowering plants. Most of what she grew were vegetables because they were easier to manage, but she had a little bed of attempted daffodils and tulips- there were points for trying, okay?

Her little turtle, Napoleon, was happily enjoying the sun in his tank to the right. He had a smaller terrarium, and the sun never hurt a cold-blooded reptilian. He was busy milling around on his rock, occasionally dipping back in to the water to splash around a bit. It was entertaining to imagine him as his own little gardener, tending to the plants in his tank. Of course, they were much too large for him, but he would've looked handsome with a garden spade.

Layton pulled up a head of lettuce and put a single leaf in his tank as a treat. "Th-The lettuce is pretty big this year, isn't it Napoleon?" she hummed happily, smiling at his tank and adjusting her glasses with the back of her gloves. It was actually quite early for her to be taking the lettuce out (as you were supposed to do it during spring), but she figured it wouldn't hurt Napoleon to have some of it a tad earlier than usual. Besides, it was just one head. There were still two or three buried in the coffee colored soil. "Just a little while longer and we'll have lots of flowers and yummy plants for you."

She wiggled her nose near the side of the glass, almost like an eskimo kiss to his tank. "Won't that be nice?"

With her spade she patted the soft dirt, moving seeds into the ground, carefully arraging them and squishing the soil so as to give them the perfect amount. She'd acquired a new fern from the old lady down the street who said she was getting too old to take care of all her plants, so there was a new addition to her garden. After an intensive amount of googling, she knew every fact there was to know about her little fern (Layton cared aggressively about taking good care of her garden after all). The fern was going to find itself right at home next to her other ferns- she would make sure of it!

She pulled her ragged sweater a little tighter, trying to seep up any warmth it was leaking out. It was such a cold winter this year- this was the first time in a while she could actually do any gardening since everything had been frozen over in ice most of the time. Today was sunny and warm enough for Napoleon to be out, but she could feel the chill of a cold front coming in. Napoleon seemed to feel the same way, as he bobbed out of the water and looked up at her longingly.

"Why don't we get you inside under your nice warm lamp, hm?" she asked him with a little smile. "I th-think I could use a lamp too!"