Thursday, February 21, 2008

Hydrangeas

A few Hydrangea Blossoms From My Garden 2007

Snow Envy


Living on an island off the coast of New England that is wrapped in the warm blanket of the Atlantic Gulf Stream insures that I am one of a very few New Englanders that doesn’t own a snow shovel. Yes I realize those of you reading this in snow belt territory are assuming I am bragging but stop for a moment to consider what life might be like without that clean white pallet that much like a grass lawn allows the eye to comfortably set on your evergreens, conifers, grasses, and my favorite winter interest… bark. Without snow the bright reflective qualities of any garden are limited to the sun capturing light in the shinny leaves of evergreens. As beautiful as the “twinkle lights” of evergreen leaves can be they are often lost to me in the clutter of winter without snow. Think what a pallet of brown dirt accented with late decaying plants, leaves, twigs, plant markers, and of course yard art takes on an entirely different meaning. I would also like to point out that although you folks living in areas with large deer populations experience considerable damage I would ask you to ponder how severe the damage would be without a blanket of snow to protect the lower trunk. By far year round the most damaging effects to my garden are caused by “winter burn” I spend a small fortune on anti desiccants twice through out the winter and this of course has limited success. So come on you gardeners in snow territory admit how fortunate you really are.

Monday, February 11, 2008

A Gardeners Patriotic Duty



How did we evolve into a country where patriotic duty has become synonymous with shopping? In recent years during times of crisis rather than being encouraged to volunteer, donate, or sacrifice, we Americans are asked to pull out our credit cards and head off to the mall. Our current president told the nation right after 911 that every citizen could contribute to the common good by purchasing stuff, and now that we are in…yes I will say it…and economic recession, the low and middle class will receive tax rebates costing the federal government 170 billion dollars so that we can dash out and buy a new red, white, and blue, flat screen tv. Some answers as to how we got where we are today can be found at Annie Leonard’s site The Story of Stuff , her very thought provoking video brought me to examine my own consumerism which to be honest at this point in my life has slowed down with of course the exception of my horticultural purchasing. All of this leads me to ponder could gardeners and all they consume rescue a failing economy? Consider how well the short life cycle of most plants in my garden fit into the current economic requirement of planned obsolescence, buy plant, nurture plant, kill plant,… buy plant, nurture plant, the length of this cycle can be remarkably short I have been known to loose a young plant over night only to run back to the nursery the next day.
Have you noticed how the frequency of new plant introductions have aided our materials driven economy by perceived obsolescence? Most gardeners love being the first person on their block to be growing the latest and greatest plant. The nursery industry has taken this to such lengths that we now have a long list of inferior Echinacea introductions, and don’t even get me started on the subject of hemerocallis.
In 2007 the Chicago Tribune reported that the nursery industry uses up 320 million pounds of plastic a year making plant containers and pots. Most of which are not recycled primarily due to the lack of uniformity, unlike milk and water bottles. If we could replace the plastic pots for compost friendly pots there would still be a constant need for production of new pots but without toxins. I feel confident that the nursery industry will be unable to ignore this issue for much longer.
So will you be doing your patriotic duty and buying new plants for your garden with your tax rebate check?

Thursday, February 7, 2008

The Gardeners Six Word Memoir

With the six word memoir craze found all over the blogoshpere I must admit I have been caught up in the challenge, the best of which can be found at "The Brent Park Project". Today I was presented with a few mind numbing minutes when I was void of conversation, books, and technology and created a six word gardening memoir…be warned not a simple task. I share mine with you with the hope you will post and share yours.
Plant
Nurture
Kill
Research
Repeat
Again
Hope you can join us tonight to review Helen Dillon’s “Down To Earth” I wonder what her six word memoir would be…hmm perhaps I’ll email her.