Serenity in the Garden

Icy Rose     My favorite garden writer, Eleanor Perenyi , wrote one garden book,  Green Thoughts,  and it affected me immeasurably when I first read it in 1982.   I thought how marvelous that she could combine great writing with the mundane joys of a Northeast garden.  She refers to chestnuts and it makes me wonder if she had a tree because  the once plentiful native chestnut trees are gone, killed by the devastating fungal disease, chestnut blight. (Although they have a foundation, go here: The American Chestnut Foundation .)  Here is a paragraph from her essay,  Autumn . It catches that early morning moment in a late November garden:   frost dahlia  by Ellis Hollow blog "Heavier dews presage the morning when the moisture will have turned to ice, glazing the shriveled dahlias and lima beans, and the annuals will be blasted beyond recall. These deaths are stingless. I wouldn't want it otherwise.  I gardened one year in a tropical country and found that e

Sweet gum tree in November Deep down, in the warmth of the fecund earth, the spirits sing songs of life. Christmas Ferns stay green in November Hoping we hear, they inhale and exhale along with the seasons. Crabapple in my garden in November Now, in the cool days of November, they sing to us of rest, replenishment and they ask us to be calm. Hellebore from Pine Knot Farm in my garden The time has come to listen and of course, to rake the leaves... the leaves... -  Jan Johnsen

Let it be admitted that the world’s problems are many and wearing,  and that the whirlpool runs fast.  If we are to build a stable cultural structure above that  which threatens to engulf us  by changing our lives more rapidly than we can adjust our habits,  it will only be by flinging over the torrent  a structure as taut and flexible as a spider’s web,  a human society deeply self-conscious and undeceived  by the waters that race beneath it,  a society more literate, more appreciative of human worth than any society that has previously existed.  That is the sole prescription, not for survival — which is meaningless —  but for a society worthy to survive. - Loren Eiseley, from 'A Firmament of Time'

photo by Jan Johnsen     "We want also, somewhat more of reverence for age and antiquity.  One of the great characteristics of the present generation is a fondness for novelty and unquestionably this is often a useful stimulus; but in grasping after and adopting everything that is new, let us not on that account, affect to despise everything that is old. ....we must nevertheless acknowledge, that human affairs move very much in circles; what, years ago, was at the bottom of the wheel and almost forgotten, again comes to the top and with a new dress and a different name, is eagerly run after as something entirely new.  ..... make us sensible of the fact, that every thing before and around us, is not our own work, and due to our own exertions, and did not all at once start into perfection, but was the slow growth of ages, and only attained after much toil and suffering." Dr. William B. Casey, MD, Middletown, CT    1853  (Field, P.

  Lost   by David Wagoner Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known.   photo by Jan Johnsen (one of my gardens) The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. photo by Blondieb If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you. from  Collected Poems 1956-1976  © Indiana University Press

  Gardening With Soul    won  Best Documentary Award at the New Zealand Film Festival. It is an inspiring story about an elderly  nun,  Sister Loyola,  who tends her cloister’s gardens with a marked passion for her task.  The opening starts with a storm and shows her inventive protective makeshift “covers” (old milk jugs) that saves the tender plants. Cane in hand, Sister Loyola walks to the church’s on-site shed and surveying the scene says, “I spend a lot of time out here.” Sister Loyola opines, "The garden is saying to me all the time, ‘life is evolving, life is evolving’—So if you’re going to spend the last few years of your life worrying about how to survive, you’re wasting your time”.  Gardening With Soul  is available for  fundraiser screenings for community gardening groups, churches, and other organizations across the United States. More info can be found  here .

I must admit I first discovered  Drumstick Allium  when I could not find any other allium bulb to buy...it was late fall and I had waited too long to buy the popular Globemaster Alliums... What to DO? I bought the Drumstick bulbs and was thrilled at the result. These purplish - red blooms are small - 1" -and oval shaped.  They bloom in my part of the world in June atop wiry 24" - 30" tall stems and wave in the breeze...and they make a superb cut flower (which you can dry to be an 'everlasting').     THEY ARE DEER RESISTANT.   Drumstick Allium bouquet - Martha Stewart Photo Drumstick Alliums look fantastic tucked in the early summer flower border...You can add these small bulbs easily in the fall around clumps of established perennials such as Artemesia, Yarrow, Nepeta and Agastache. They peek out around these plants and are a delightful addition that come back every year! Artemesia Powis Castle - G

Adachi Museum Mountain and water garden in fall Autumn, the year's last loveliest smile.  ~ William Cullen Bryant It is November and here, in the Northeast of the U.S., the breezes are blowing, the rain is finally here and the leaves are falling, falling.... So we must content ourselves with the sweet leftovers - the berries, the cabbages, the mums and some lovely remaining leaves. The ones on the Japanese Maples are brilliant this year: photo by Jan Johnsen The berries on the winterberry -  Ilex verticillata  - are in their glory. All ready to be made into a Thansgiving wreath. from kidsgardening.com The planters are filled with mums,pansies and more.  The crabapples are studded with their finest jewelry: photo by Jan Johnsen  And even the puddles don't look so bad at this time of year. photo by Jan Johnsen