RED and more in the garden

(Red Poppies in Jim's Garden, photo by Jan Johnsen)

Bold. Bright. Pop.

This is what RED adds to a garden.

RED, an eye catching hue, stands up to the summer sun's withering glare in the afternoon.

When all pastels fade away, red, orange and yellow sing their hearts out....and RED always steals the show.

RED has a vivid history - Check it out on the sensational color website. It is the color of the root chakra (this means 'energy point) of the body:

"This chakra is located at the base of the spine and allows us to be grounded and connect to the universal energies. Groundedness, belonging...."

(sounds perfect for all us grounded gardeners)

In Japan RED is associated with certain deities. Their “Shinkyo” (Sacred Bridge) in Nikko, Japan is a wonderful example of the contrast RED makes with green in a natural setting.

You can also see how effective RED is in the modern Chinese Red Ribbon in Tanghe River Park, designed by Turenscape :

This use of RED has always been popular in Chinese gardens...Here is another example showing a red Tori or gate...what great proportions too.

I was first introduced to the power of red by the French artist, Matisse...I loved his 'Red Studio' when I first saw it as a child in a NY museum:

And of course Red furniture outdoors attracts the eye:

Here is a landscape I designed - the red bench definitely dominates the scene:

I often plant RED Callibrachoa in my clients' gardens. It is a eye catcher for sure!



I also plant a mass of red begonias next to dark green leucothoe to make a statement. This is what I did along an entry walk:

Of course the spilling over of Superbena Royale Red Verbena in a pot is unmatched:

(courtesy of Proven Winners)

And Nemesia, a cool season annual flower, is also a knock out in red, Sunsatia Cranberry Nemesia :

(courtesy of Proven Winners)

Did you know that Bees can’t see the color red, but they can see all other bright colors. Red flowers are usually pollinated by birds, butterflies, bats, and wind, rather than bees.

I love red tulips against a white fence so I planted these Parade tulips:

(Jan Johnsen)

And of course the traditional Red Geranium always signifies 'welcome' in so many languages:

So please consider 'spicing up' your outdoor surroundings with some RED today - you won't regret it!

(Silas Mountsier Garden, photo by Jan Johnsen)

Re-Inventing May Day - Our Springtime Celebrations and their Roman Origin

I just took my morning walk and enjoyed the light green leaves unfurling on the trees .... The trees come alive here in the first weeks of May where I live.

This is why May Day and the Maypole celebration are so appealing to me. The tradition of Dancing around the Maypole  is a true Springtime ritual and has its roots in ancient history.


The ancient Romans honored their god, Attis, on March 22  by wrapping a sacred pine tree in linen and violets. They then carried it in a procession to the hilltop temple of Cybele, and, after solemn observance, celebrated merrily and placed bits of wool on the tree. 

Sale Elementary School and their Maypole

When the Romans occupied the British Isles. they brought this Springtime festival with them.

According to E. O. James' description, the Attis ceremony was recreated by the youths in old Europe who cut down a tree, lopped off the branches leaving a few at the top, wrapped it with violets like the ancient Romans did, and at sunrise, carried it back to their villages by blowing horns and flutes.  After this the villagers would dance and sing around this maypole, circling back and forth around the pole with colorful streamers. This pole became brightly decorated and braided with all the streamers.

 In time, each village vied with one another on May 1 to see who could produce the tallest and most elaborate Maypole. The poles were usually set up for the day in small towns, but in London and the larger towns the Maypoles were erected permanently.

at the Virginia Renaissance Faire

May Day was also a Druid ritual day, the festival of Beltane. It was thought that this day ended the dormant half of the year (which began on Nov. 1, Samhain) and began the growing half of the year...

by Eveleyn De Morgan - Flora, Roman Goddess of Flowers

The Europeans also adopted the Roman  five day celebration called FLORALIA - dedicated to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers.  Thus, many of today's May Day customs such as choosing  the May queen and hanging May baskets of flowers on doorknobs could be the result of the Romans' 5 day flower festival....

You might say Europe's May Day is the result of the ancient Roman occupation!

Maurice Prendergast - May Day in Central Park, artmight.com

 
In the United States we don't have a strong May Day celebration because the May day observance was discouraged by the founding Puritans. But in France the May Tree became the "Tree of Liberty" and became the symbol of the French Revolution. This, in turn, became the day of the workers' festivals in Europe.

by Boris Kustodiev - May Day celebration in Russia...artmight.com

So gradually the pagan Spring celebrations were co-opted by various religious and political groups...

But first and foremost May Day is a celebration of Spring renewal and perhaps that is what our Earth Day is now becoming.... a re-invention of our lost Springtime celebrations.

Long Live May Day, the Maypole, the May Queen  and the celebration of new life!

Wattles and Coppicing for Modern Gardens

Andrea Cochran's fabulous garden shown here would not be the same without the wattle fence on top of the hill....

What is a wattle fence?

It is essentially fencing woven from green branches of Hazel and Willow trees (oak, elder, hornbeam and ash too ).  This technique has been used for centuries in Great Britain and makes an ideal windbreak and screen.

Wattle also provides a unique and attractive rustic appearance...

Wattle as hand railing - Andrea Cochran Design

But how to get braches for this?

Coppicing is a way to renew trees rapidly.

Coppicing a tree is an efficient way to  provide small banches for wattles.

In historic Britain, much of the economic value of a medieval woodland was in the so-called “small wood,” or coppiced trees rather than in large timber trees.  Although the practice fell into disuse in the first half of the twentieth century, it has been revived in contemporary Great Britain, where there is interest in the conservation of woodlands and in the ecological benefits of coppicing.

from Woodlandatics site

The resulting wattles from coppiced trees look great and are a valuable way to define or enclose  outdoor space. You can even use it to shade a patio..

If you are interested in this latter idea ,  check out the website Casa Sugar (click on it).

Wattle could be a great new industry for the Unted States - some enterprising person can be the wattle provider for Home Depot..

Loren Eiseley, Star Thrower

"Man would not be man if his dreams did not exceed his grasp...

 If I remember the sunflower forest it is because from its hidden reaches man arose. The green world is his sacred center. In moments of sanity he must still seek refuge there..."

 

- Loren Eiseley, The Invisible Pyramid

When Loren Eiseley, the famous naturalist, was alive no one looked at him as a mystic but he was indeed mystical.

 He was born in 1907 in Nebraska. In 1910 a very young Loren watched the passage of Halley’s Comet with his father. That spectacle contributed to Eiseley's profound sense of time and space that is so inspiring.

Eiseley became one of the most widely read and highly regarded nature writers of the twentieth century. "There has never been another writer like him," wrote a reviewer for the Library of Science, "and there never will be".  His admirers and correspondents included the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, the poet W.H. Auden, and the cultural critic Lewis Mumford.

Loren Corey Eiseley  - an evolutionary biologist, anthropologist, bone hunter, poet, teacher, historian, naturalist, philosopher, "the heir apparent to Henry David Thoreau" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) earned a B.S. at age 26 at the University of Nebraska after nearly a decade as a Depression era WPA worker and drifter.  

His friend Umland wrote,

"From the time he was a teenager his mother had been constantly after him to find part-time work but he would hole up in the City Library and read books instead of making an earnest search.

He read science fiction, the poets, the nature writers, ghost stories.

 Librarian Lula Horn said he had to be chased out of the stacks at closing time.  "

He was awarded a Ph.D. in anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, in 1937 when he was 30.

He became head of the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, in 1947. Elected president of the American Institute of Human Paleontology in 1949.  The Immense Journey, his first book, was published by Random House in 1957.

He was awarded the John Burroughs Medal and the LeComte du Nouy Award in 1961 for The Firmament of Time.

Eiseley pondered the ethical issues of our age --how man might be a part of nature's world, and not an enemy of it. This gave his wirtings a certain urgency.  He explored inner and outer space and brought poetic insight to scientific discipline, connecting multiple universes, humankind, and nature.

His famous short story 'The Star Thrower' can be read here - The Metta Refuge. Highly recommended to all fellow travelers!

The Amazing Dandelion - Harvesting and Cooking Nutritious Greens in Spring

The dreaded Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), for which we spend tremendous amounts of weed killer money to eradicate, has been prized over the years for its medicinal and nutritious properties. In fact, dandelion roots, flowers and "dandelion greens" (leaves) are all edible!

• Dandelion roots can be roasted as a coffee-substitute, or boiled and stir-fried as a cooked vegetable.

• Dandelion flowers can be made into a wine.

• Dandelion greens can be boiled, as you would spinach, and served as a vegetable or can be inserted in sandwiches or used as a salad green (it has a little "bite.")

 Dandelion greens are high in vitamins A and C, and iron!  The French even  have a well-known soup called creme de pissenlits (cream of dandelion soup), which is easy to make.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/eating-dandelions.html 

 from Embracing My Health blog

Harvesting the greens (the leaves)  is the most popular way to eat Dandelions. The best time to harvest the greens is in early spring, before the flowers appear, when they are the tenderest and least bitter. Boiling them or stir frying them will further reduce their bitterness.

from the Herbwife's Kitchen website

So why pay pay extra to purchase foods with similar (or even inferior) nutritional value, when you have a free source of leafy greens in your neighborhood? 
 
 Dandelions are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. And in traditional medicine, dandelion roots and leaves were used to treat liver problems. Native Americans used dandelion decoctions (liquid made by boiling down the herb in water) to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and stomach upset.
 
 

 

My musings:  It makes sense that, at the end of winter, when our ancestors were probably hungry and vitamin deficient, that Nature would see to it that they had a great source of vitamins proliferating all around them! No one had to seed them or turn over the soil...the Dandelions appeared just for the picking! and today we spend so much money just to make them go away....something is wrong here....

Just make sure to avoid harvesting near roads, since road salt and/or toxins may be present. Likewise, you obviously shouldn't harvest from a lawn where herbicides have been used.

Here is a great medical reference book for all health practitioners:



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tiptoe through the Tulips

My dear client, Mark, has been overcome with Tulipmania.
It is a wonderful malady that encourages someone to plant thousands of bulbs in the fall.

It started out gently for Mark - we had just finished the total site design around a magnificent house he had built. This included viewing gardens, a terrace and outdoor kitchen for entertaining, entry drive and parking area, walls and steps and more.

I planted some tulip bulbs around a newly planted Kwanzan cherry tree to give him a quick burst of spring color.

Mark was very appreciative the next spring when he saw the deep red tulips encircling the tree at the entry to his house.  He just wished I had planted a 'few' more.....

Well, that was about 5 years ago.  Today Mark plants tens of thousands of tulips on his lovely property.  And the effect is overwhelmingly delicious!

The tulips are planted with abandon - color blends dominate and it looks, to me,  like an ice cream social! Those sherbet colors meld together in a sweet concoction of tulip-iciousness. ( hey, a new word!)

So look now at those bulb catalogs coming your way - even if you have a 'postage stamp' of a yard - like I do - you can still plant fabulous colors and dreamy blends in a sunny corner...

Just keep those pesky deer away....Yes, Mark has a fence.

By the way,  a good bulb catalog you can order from now is Van Bourgondien