I’ve always loved pretty glass bottles, all the different shapes, colors, and how the light reflects through them. Where is a more perfectly arranged, beautifully lit array of bottles than behind the bar at a great resort. “This is horticulture! In all these bottles! How can anyone with even a passing interest in botany not be fascinated by this stuff?” This is where Amy Stewart hooked me into reading her latest book. She begins with the letter A for agave and moves through plants all the way to wheat describing their use in making the booze of the world.
Green, Flower and Fruit, what all gardeners want,
As gardeners something in our soul calls to us whether on our own street or halfway around world on a small street in Casablanca Morocco. We have need to plunge our hands into the soil, creating a place to grow something even in the most challenging conditions. The life in a green plant signals to us that there is a larger beautiful world we are part of. The color of the flowers brightens our own view of the world. The fruit of the plant is the reward of all the elements of nature working together. The produce provides us the food to eat, to share at our table.
What would a gardener do?
When the lottery jackpot grows large we are entertained by stories of speculation as to how a lucky winner might spend the prize. Well, what would a gardener with a passion for beauty and nature do with unlimited funds? Robert Allerton, born in 1893, won the lottery in a sense as he was the only heir to a great fortune accumulated by his father Samuel. “Samuel Allerton amassed more than 80,000 acres of farmland across the Midwest. The elder Allerton was a founding principal of the First National Bank of Chicago, and held prominent leadership positions in five major stockyards, including the Union Stockyards of Chicago.” (Allerton Park website) Robert worked tirelessly to spend the vast fortune that he inherited. His constant effort produced two incredible gardens and major donations to both the Chicago Art Institute (6600 items) and the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Peony Season
In our globally connected world it is hard to distinguish our garden seasons. Roses, lilies, and tulips show up in markets and bouquets every week. Asparagus and blueberries are available all year. Peony season seems an exception from this sense of timelessness. Peony season is spring and on my calendar it is May. Peony bushes were a part of my childhood landscape in Indiana. Since 1957 the state flower of Indiana is the Peony, or Paeonia so their popularity was notable. The bushes formed a line around our home and were planted right in the lawn. This meant much grumbling by my sister and I about pulling the grass out of the bushes late in the season. Initially though in the spring the grass was still short and the anticipation of their blooms was still quite pleasant. Peony season meant warmer temperatures. The temperature and the peony buds brought out the black ants. The ants hungry for the nectar surrounding the buds crawl up and down the stems. It is an often told myth that ants help the buds open but science says this isn’t so. Still the ants had to be removed from the flowers before we could bring them into the house for a bouquet for our dinner table. We would dunk the blooms into a bucket of water and wait for the ants to float off the petals.
Royal Palace Gardens of Alcazar, Seville, Spain
I became impatient listening to the tour guide explain 700 years of Spanish history. Already I calmly sat through a long bus ride from the port of Cadiz to Seville to get to the Royal Palace Gardens of Alcazar. I wanted only to see the garden. So. . . . I slipped away from our tour group.
Two birds in a tree
I spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon admiring yellow, pink, peach and red cactus blooms at the Desert Botanical Garden. Walking out I noticed a crowd looking up at something moving in a blooming palo verde tree. A road runner was flitting about in the branches. What a treat to see this rare bird in plain sight in the middle of the day! A mourning dove was sitting on a nest in the same tree. Everyone was happily watching.
Spring Garden Road & Summer Street
What else could one expect to find at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Summer Street but a jewel of a garden? In Halifax, Nova Scotia you will find a rare Victorian Garden. This fanciful and elaborate style of garden is not often found in our modern age, but this path to the past is a grand experience.
Flowering Branches
Perhaps the very instant spring begins is that brief sunny moment when bare branches burst from bud to flower. Dormant limbs feeling the stir of seasonal change bud and swell with the news that winter is waning. Seemingly overnight the bleak branch canopy suddenly commands our attention as we notice the burst of flowers filling a tree. Flowers before leaves, before fruit and seed pods simply fascinate a gardener, who willingly rakes and sweeps the debris that follows the spectacular show of flowering trees.
Escalante Community Garden
What Grows along side fruits & vegetables?
When a person has a passion, a purpose and a connection to the natural world it can feed a hunger of the soul. Dave Talley, head gardener of this community garden may have found a way to prevent starvation for many people. Certainly the garden provides food for the community food pantry, so the physical hunger is reduced. Yet the contribution to the garden made by community members including many homeless individuals may be preventing the starvation of spirit that seems epidemic in so many urban souls. Richard Louv writes in his book Last Child in the Woods & in the follow up The Nature Principal about the importance of time in the natural world for keeping our mental and physical health intact. We need nature in our lives but also in our neighborhoods.  Planting seeds, petting chickens, picking peppers all introduce nature to children of all ages. This garden boasts 43 raised beds growing organic crops of broccoli, kale, leeks, cabbages, calendula, sunflowers, herbs and more. Managing all of this falls to Dave, formerly a homeless man for six years, he positively glows with enthusiasm as he point out the features of the garden. He gently strokes one of 26 hens named “Jessie” as he describes meeting the challenges of the garden. He has completed the Master Gardener certificate program and is currently enrolled in the Desert Botanical Garden training course. He supervises and manages the watering, the planting schedule and the organic practices. There are 25 fruit trees growing. There are art projects covering the walls. There are innovative planters, recycling ideas. A garden grows hope.
Forecast: Cold and Beautiful
When the temperature is freezing not many people set out to visit gardens. I, however, did just that, taking a trip to Tucson to visit Tohono Chul Park, and Garden. The frost covers were out, the air was bracing and the blue sky filled with wisps of clouds. These were repeat visits so I know the gardens are beautiful in fine weather so I expected a change of scene due to the threat of freezing temperatures.