In like a lion

and out like a lamb.

Well, I sure as hell hope that’s how March plays out. I'd like a little more of that lamb action NOW though, thanks.

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
~Charles Dickens

The early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March. That the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were originally positioned as the seventh through tenth months (septem is Latin for "seven," octo is "eight," novem is "nine," and decem is "ten."

Interesting, eh? Makes a ton of sense to me. After all, March is when spring begins. Rebirth and shit don'cha know.

"The Anglo-Saxons called the month Hlyd monath which means Stormy month, or Hraed monath which means Rugged month."
~The International Cyclopædia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge ..., Volume 9

I like that—makes a ton of sense.
 How did March get its name?

The name of March comes from Latin Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. It was named for Mars, the Roman god of war who was also regarded as a guardian of agriculture and an ancestor of the Roman people through his sons Romulus and Remus.

March Gardening Tips for the Northeast from Better Homes and Gardens
(clearly written in past years OR by optimists who are able to ignore the six solid feet of snow covering their gardens OR by folks who live nowhere near Boston)

If you left any perennials or grasses standing over winter, cut back the dead stems before or as the plants put out new growth

~snip~

Make sure your tools are in good working order before you need them.
Divide many of your perennials later this month as they start to emerge from the soil.

 So, March is about pruning, dividing perennials and prepping tools for the coming days when more can be accomplished. The author left out this rather important tidbit:
When the snowpack has reduced such that you can see over the top of it, begin shoveling snow into rain barrels for use in less damp days.

“By March, the worst of the winter would be over. The snow would thaw, the rivers begin to run and the world would wake into itself again.

Not that year.

Winter hung in there, like an invalid refusing to die. Day after grey day the ice stayed hard; the world remained unfriendly and cold.”
~Neil Gaiman, Odd and the Frost Giants

My, how cheery. That better not be our fate!

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”
~Richard Wagner