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Book Review: Two Women, Two Writers, Two Gardens

/ Kevin / 26 Comments

 

Prior to starting this blog, I did very little garden-related reading.  In fact, most of the garden reading I had done was the technical kind, usually to research a plant or a seed.  It never crossed my mind to want to read a gardening book for pleasure – and now I find myself craving garden books and garden blogs.  Recently, I read two remarkable books at the same time, and I am enchanted.

From the moment I received One Writer’s Garden, by Susan Haltom and Jane Roy Brown, from my friend Catherine, I knew it would be a difficult book to categorize.  It’s definitely a gardening book, but it’s a biography and a history book, as well – all woven together with strands of roses and irises and camellias.

The garden, located in Jackson, Mississippi, was designed and planted by Chestina Welty, an amazing woman who passed her love of gardening on to her daughter, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Eudora Welty.  In beautifully written narrative, the reader is transported to a time that now seems almost other-worldly.

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“And The Versatile Blogger Award Goes To. . .”

/ Kevin / 36 Comments

Have you ever had one of those senior posting moments?  You know, the kind where you desperately need something to post about but the posting angel is on hiatus — and since it’s winter, you can’t even  get by with a random flower photo? 

Well, that was my state of mind for the past few days — until the posting angel arrived in the form of Jane from Tidy Gardens, who presented me with the “Versatile Blogger Award.”  I’m not sure of the criteria Jane used, since I’ve never considered myself versatile, but I am very humbled and flattered to be on her list of versatile bloggers — although she has also informed me there are rules that I must follow as a recipient of this award. 

But before I get into that, I do owe Jane many thanks.  Her site is one that I return to quite often — usually to bring a smile to my face.  It’s strange to have struck up a friendship of sorts with someone I’ve never met, but I do appreciate her humor (and the fact that she gets mine).  What I especially enjoy about her posts or her comments here, is that when I read her words, I can hear her voice — although, I have never actually heard it.  I encourage everyone to check out her site.  You’ll see what I mean.

Now for the rules.

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Bloomin’ Update 16: Ageless & Evergreen

/ Kevin / 28 Comments

White Pine

First, let me say that I loathe snow.   My loathing is contingent upon the depth of said white stuff.  The deeper it gets, the loathier I get.  While the weather forecasters have reminded us of this year’s snow deficit, that is of little consolation to me. 

I dislike dressing in layer upon layer just to go outside to get the mail.  The cardiologist has given me strict orders to not even think of shoveling this marshmallow world.  And here on Long Island, we are very often on the cusp of snow and water, which means that a snowy day results in a super-sized slushy.  So, let me say that I will not powder this post with words like fluffy and blanket and sugar.  This will not be an ode to snow.

That, at least, is my first reaction when I see snow.  It isn’t until I really look at snow that I can embrace its wonder, how it blows and drifts and catches on branches.  Snow, I think, makes me appreciate evergreens more than ever. 

My window of awe is a brief one, and this is my moment to enjoy winter white.

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Lights, Camera, Garden!

/ Kevin / 31 Comments

Following a recent post in which I compared Mother Nature to Scarlett O’Hara, Janet of Planticru Notes commented on my ability to weave films into a gardening blog. That small sentence was enough of a seed to get me thinking about gardening movies that I enjoy, especially now that Mother Nature has given the northeast a cold shoulder.

Movies, like gardening, have always provided an escape for me.  No matter the emotion of the moment, each activity gives me a chance to think and breathe and laugh and cry and absorb.  Sometimes I need a Zinnia, sometimes I need a period piece, like Dangerous Liaisons.  Certain films, like certain plants, are part of my very being.  The garden will always have Dahlias, and moments in life will trigger a scene from What’s Up, Doc, which I will then recite in my head.

At the same time, while each of these passions can be solitary in nature, they can also be quite communal.  Put a group of moviegoers in a room and a group of gardeners in another room – and there are endless conversations and accolades and critiques and comparisons.  Watching in the dark and growing in the sun — both bring us together.

Here, in no particular order, are some garden-related films.  Grab a pillow, a blanket, and a bowl of popcorn — our show is about to begin.

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Confessions Of A Seed Addict

/ Kevin / 22 Comments

I am a seedaholic – and this time of year is especially rough for me and others like me.  The seed catalogs have arrived, with all of their colorful glossy photos designed to tempt the gardener with promises of summer bouquets and homegrown vegetables – all of the scents and textures of life itself.

Each time I visit the mailbox and find a new arrival, I wonder what the neighbors think.  A wave of thrills and excitement passes through me.  I clutch the catalog to my chest as if it was the latest issue of Tiger Beat and I’m a giddy 11-year-old school girl.  And, I swear, I feel like skipping.

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It Might As Well Be Spring

/ Kevin / 28 Comments

What’s up with Mother Nature?  Has she forgotten to look at the calendar?  It’s January, and she should be full of bitterness and coldness and frigid wickedness.  Instead, it seems Mother Nature is having a bit of hot flash, teasing us with a taste of a spring fling.

That’s why I’m more inclined to envision Mother Nature as Scarlett O’Hara, flitting and flirting her way through the folks at a Twelve Oaks barbecue, while I am one of the admiring suitors gathered around her.  My heart beats with every flutter of her eyelashes.  My pulse races with each giggle of her southern feminine charm.  The temptation is overwhelming.  I so badly want to reach out and grab my rake to clean out the flower beds, to let my fingers sift through the soil, to plant seeds and to nurture them to full growth — and I want to do all of this without the protection of work gloves.  I am hungry to be in the garden.

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Bloomin’ Update 15: Greetings from South Florida

/ Kevin / 28 Comments

Like a good postcard, this one is arriving to you after I made it home.  Joe and I spent the past week in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where we plan to retire in the near future.  We purchased a small home there almost 20 years ago.  In fact, we made one payment and a low pressure system became Hurricane Andrew.  We also removed all of the shade trees and replaced them with palms.  Since then, the house has been rented and we return several times a year to do yard work.  Yard work?  That’s a vacation?  For us – and probably for most gardeners who have little patience for winter’s dreariness – this is a vacation: the chance to feel the sun, to play in the dirt, and to see all shades of green.

There was some extra fun this time in Florida since I had the chance to play with my Christmas gift, a Canon SX40HS digital camera.  Armed with my new toy, I found every excuse under the Florida sun to snap some garden and vacation photos.   Would you expect anything different from a boy and his new gadget?

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2011 in review

/ Kevin / 8 Comments

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,500 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Holiday Traditions Yule Love

/ Kevin / 20 Comments

Photo courtesy of http://www.SnowCrystals.com

Traditions are a huge part of Christmas.  To mangle a line from The New York Sun, how dreary would be Christmas if there were no traditions.  It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.  For me, traditions come in many shapes and sizes – from Christmas trees to antique ornaments to home-made cookies.  Growing up, holiday baking was a family activity – Mom made the dough, Dad squeezed it out of the cookie press, my sister and I were in charge of the red and green colored sugars.  Butter cookies were shaped like trees; cream cheese cookies, my favorite, were shaped like wreaths.

With age and lack of time, many traditions either fall by the wayside or become chores that compete with day-to-day life.  It seems with each passing year, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain the spirit of the season.

And it’s when I feel myself slipping into that frame of mind that I return to two of my personal favorite traditions. Continue reading →

A Letter to Santa Claus

/ Kevin / 32 Comments

Dear Santa,

How are things where you are?  I know it’s been a while since I last wrote to you, but I have run out of options and I am turning to you and your elves to make this little gardener’s Christmas wish list become a reality.

I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to keep up with your reading, but a few posts ago, I wrote about the lack of G on HGTV.  Far be it from me to tell  you how to do your job, but you may want to consider a stocking full of coal for the network’s naughty executives.  They have not been kind to the gardening population — and, in fact, they have not responded to my letter requesting more G shows.

But if you would like to avoid coal, might I suggest sprinkling them with some inspiring Christmas magic so they may wake on Christmas morning like a renewed Ebenezer Scrooge?   To help you, here are a few ideas for gardening shows that I, for one, would love to watch on a snowy winter morning.

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