Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

All through October the town of Salem, Massachusetts is awash in witches. They are all dressed in black with pointy hats and try to look as forbidding and dangerously magical as possible.

Though the word witch has assumed the dark cloak of evil, there are white witches as well, and witches’ gardens could as easily have included healing herbs as well as herbs that are a little more problematical. Of course, as with so much in life, how a plant, or anything else, is used will determine whether it is good or evil.

The mandrake plant isn’t common is many gardens these days, but throughout history it has been considered not only an aphrodisiac, but an aid to fertility. Another important use was as a soporific and to deaden pain on the battlefield. Legend has it that Hannibal somehow managed to get his African enemies to drink it. When they fell asleep his own army swept down and killed them all. He could have used the mandrake differently, to similar effect. He could have had his army wear it, become invisible, and then sweep down to confuse and kill.

Comfrey is another vulnerary, an herb used to treat battle wounds. Or to treat any wound, hence its common name of knitbane. Its usefullness comes from the allantoin in its leaves which can be laid on a wound or beaten till pulpy and used as a poultice. It can also be eaten, preferably when the leaves are young, which is when livestock will also appreciate it. I know my chickens do, although I feed it to them first while they are really hungry. It is rich in calcium, potassium, phosphorus as well as vitamins A and C.

Achillea, yarrow, named after the warrior Achilles is also known for its alleged ability to stop bleeding. Witches use it as well, for divination purposes, and was probably one of the herbs that Macbeth’s witches used.

Coltsfoot which grows along our roadsides looking like dandelions, long before the dandelions bloom is known as a cough dispeller. A decoction mixed with a little honey is good for coughs. And one may very well have a cough and cold in the very early spring when the flowers first appear.

Lots of herbs get used for coughs. One recipe includes several, horehound, hyssop, licorice root and marshmallow root.

If you are feeling low and not hungry, some mint will help because it is reputed to make you desire meat. I wonder how that fits in with mint sauce and mint jelly which are often served with lamb?

Garlic is an herb with so many uses and virtues that it is hard to list them all. It is antiseptic, and has been used to remedy rheumatism, intestinal worms, lost virility, and used as a diuretic and laxative. It was so useful that during the Renaissance it was called a heal-all.

There are magic trees, as well as magic herbs. The rowan tree is one of the most famous. It was often planted in cemetaries to protect the dead. From witches? And its wood is considered the best for dowsers.

Deadly nightshade, and datura are plants associated with witches on broomsticks, but it should be noted that these herbs, and certain others, are hallucinogenic. A dose or two and you might feel you were flying through the night sky.

Fortunately in this world, where there are dangers there are remedies. If we gardeners grow rue in our gardens, this Herb of Grace will keep us safe from all witches and evil.

Recently I found a website with lots of herbal and magical information, as well as scholarly links.

Snow!

Need I say more?

Shared Chores

Heath woke up in the clouds this morning. There was a very Brigadoonish feeling in the misty air as I drove to the Transfer Station with my trash and recycling. The dim headlights of oncoming cars could very well have been flickering torches as the hunt went on for the the missing Harry Beaton whose flight threatened to destroy the magical village.

But the only tartans are on Henry’s and my flannel shirts as we prepare to tackle the Saturday chores.

Henry has three cords of firewood to split and stack. Alas, it will take more than one Saturday session. I am routinely building a fire in the woodstove these days, and I hope the threatened showers don’t shut Henry down too soon.

Happily, with the mist, the weather is mild and I should comfortably be able to spread more woodchips on the cardboard weed barrier I have spread on a bank that will be planted in the spring.

Of course, if rain should send both of us indoors, I’ll have nothing to do by drink tea by the fire and browse through my new book, Fallscaping by Nan Ondra.

There have been no bagpipes accomanying our labors, but tonight we are attending a performance of Mozart’s Requiem by the Pioneer Valley Symphony and Chorus. A suitable farewell to summer.

Bulbs in the Basement

Many of us in our area are still mourning the close of Blue Meadow Farm, a nursery that sold so many wonderful annuals and tender perennials as well as their sturdier relatives. Now they have come out with a beautiful and useful book published by Storey about overwintering all kinds of tender plants including bulbs and tubers.

Autumnal Mistake – The Burning Bush

We went away for the weekend to join a friend in her birthday celebration. Everywhere we went we saw brilliant burning bushes, Euonymus alatus. It is easy to understand the popularity of this shrub. It is dependable and long lived, tolerant of many soils and able to grow in sun or shade, as well as having desirable fall color. However, it is an invasive plant, native to Asia, able to crowd and shade out many other plants. Because birds feed on its fruits the shrub gets spread over a wide area. It should not be sold in a nursery and those who own it should consider replacing it with a non-invasive plant that will give you the same color.

Early this summer I planted a Sourwood tree, Oxydendrom. It is native to the eastern and southeatern US. I bought it at Nasami Farm in Whately, a nursery run by the New England Wildflower Society that specializes in native trees, shrubs and perennials. I chose it because of the promised fall color; and it has delivered, a glory early in the morning when the sun shines through the foliage.

I already have high bush blueberries growing in the garden and I think their autumnal shades are just as beautiful as the burning bush. And I have the benefit of all those luscious and nutritious berries. Blue berries are a wonderful shrub. Mine are over 20 years old and have had no problems with pests or disease. Though they require little care beyond pruning out deadwood they are still producing good crops. Because blueberries need cross pollination I have planted Atlantic, Blueray, Bluecrop, and Herbert. My season is long and prolific.

When adding new plants to the garden think about fall color, but think beyond the burning bush.

Blog Action Day – Plant a Row for the Hungry

When I go to the Farmer’s Market I see all the abundance that our rocky New England soil can produce. What is not so obvious to the public is all the abundance of our home gardens. Some of us like to concentrate on a small plot with everything we like to put in our salads, a mix of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and radishes. Some of us are lucky enough to have the space, not to mention energy and time to grow a major part of the produce we’ll eat over the course of the year.

Unfortunately, it is also not obvious to the public that there are many people in our communities who do not share in this abundance. We can see it if we visit local food pantries and soup kitchens. I’ve talked to our local Salvation Army program, the Center for Self Reliance and the Survival Center. All of them report that many new families are signing up for the food pantry, people who never imagined their life would reach this point. The Salvation Army says they have very limited budget for fresh produce, yet they routinely have more than 100 people show up for lunch, often working people who get their lunch there so they will have more money to feed their children supper. And they have to hurry and eat to get back to work at a low paying job.

I am a member of the Garden Writers of America. A number of years ago this organization started the Plant a Row for the Hungry project. Recognizing the importance of food banks and food pantries, and also recognizing the large number of gardeners in our country, they encouraged people to plant and dedicate a row of garden produce to the hungry. The latest statistics on the GWA website show that over 27,000 volunteers have donated 10 million TONS of produce to hunger organizations.

Whether or not we hook up with a Plant a Row group, all of us could dedicate a row of our garden to a local food organization. No donation is too small. I have been assured that no head of broccoli or single squash will be turned away. There is no reason to let our excess harvest go to waste when there are hungry people in our community.

The harvest is pretty well done for the year in our area, but we can plan for next year. In the meantime, maybe we can drop off a bag of potatoes or local apples that we have purchased.

To find out what other bloggers have to say about Poverty and what we might be able to do, go to Blog Action Day.org.

Bloom Day

My garden may be slowing down, but my schedule isn’t so I crept out with my camera a day early. Here’s the inventory, The autumn crocus (colchicums) are still giving pleasure.

The Fairy is indomitable. And there are a couple of blossoms here and there on the other roses. Double Knockout has buds, and the hips on Rosa Rubrifolia are beautiful.

The dahlias are still going strong. Funny Face is a knockout! I was able to make up a good bouquet for church, along with two other dahlias and some of our glorious autumn foliage.

The zinnias are looking pretty sad, but there are a few individual blossoms that still look fresh and perky. The photo doesn’t do them justice – too much breeze. I love the zinnias, so bright and cheerful. And easy.

This is my standard old annual blue salvia. I originally planted it in lieu of lavender in front of the Rose Shed Bed, but now I plant it because I like it so much. It is floriferous all summer and, obviously, well into the fall.

I can’t take credit for the brilliant hills that surround me, but they are the reason that it is easier to let the outdoor bloom season go.

Columbus Day Weekend

All the festive events for the holiday weekend actually began on October 8th when friends gathered with Elsa Bakalar, our most famous and generous local gardener, to celebrate her 90th birthday. It’s been a difficult year for Elsa with two broken hips and other injuries, but she was as ready for her party as any of us. Judy (left) worked with Elsa for many years in Elsa’s house and gardens and Marie (center) has known Elsa since she was a girl, first as a student of Elsa’s at Fieldstone School and ‘camper’ who spent summers in Heath with a covey of other girls from the school

I met Elsa when I went to work for her at Greenfield Community College in 1981. I considered myself a gardener at the time, but I had never heard of a perennial. Elsa fixed that pretty quick. I got to see the birth of her book, A Garden of One’s Own, illustrated by beautiful photographs taken by her beloved husband Mike, and loved hearing about her lecture tours all over the country. This was a whole new career for Elsa when many people have retired. She continues to be an inspiration in the garden (I do have a few perennials these days) and in my every day life.

There were other places to go and people to see over the weekend, and everywhere I went I was surrounded by these brilliant hills. There is always a theory as to why an autumn is dull or glorious; this year the credit for the jewelled hillsides goes to a very wet year.

I stopped to visit Susan and her sister who were selling their quilts this weekend. I drove up and saw a dozen quilts on the clothesline, and racks of table runners and Christmas tree skirts. I asked how she could bear to give up a lifetime’s work but she laughed and said she and her sister had done all this during the past six or seven years – and that wasn’t counting the gifts and donations made during that time. They knit too!

Other friends, Earl and Myra, had family visiting for the weekend and the great family project was pressing apples for cider, using apples from their old trees on the property. This is a great apple year. One of Myra’s trees split under the weight of all the apples. Grandsons and their friends took turns collecting apples, then crushing and pressing them. The adults were happy cutting up the apples and chatting.

Earl is a retired electrician which gives him a leg up when it comes to energy conservation. This is the first stage of his solar array, currently producing 3 kilowatts of electricity. It will soon be doubled. It sits by the barn that he built almost singlehandedly to house sheep, goats and chickens. And hay. And wood. What fascinates me about this couple, and so many of my neighbors, is their devotion to the old ways and to their use of new ways. I think its a good balance.

Lantern Festival in Montreal

In China the Lantern Festival begins on the 15th day of the first lunar month, or about the end of Spring Festival which is also known as the Chinese New Year. It is easy to understand how lanterns might be a part of a celebration welcoming the lengthening days.

However, there is also a Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also sometimes called a Lantern Festival. In Montreal September and October are the months when over 1000 elaborate lanterns made in Shanghai are put in place to delight visitors to the Jardin Botanique Chinese Garden. We did not see them lit up in the evening, (the garden stays open until 9 pm for the event) but even during the day the lanterns are great fun as we followed them through the different sections of the Chinese garden.

No Chinese event would be complete without a dragon.

Chinese lanterns are often bright and gaudy and great fun. A different note is struck in the Japanese Garden. Here are shades of green and the music of falling water. The mood is more of quiet meditation than of gaiety and celebration. There might be a lesson here about including space for different moods in our own gardens. I’m going to have to give that more thought.

The lotus is an important plant in both Chinese and Japanese cultures, symbolic of beauty and purity rising out of the mud. It is a familiar motif in their art, and delicious in the kitchen. During our stay in China one of our favorite dishes was slices of pickled lotus root.

Our Trip au Canada

Journeys can be planned, but they usually hold many fascinating surprises. We set off to enjoy the beautiful autumnal foliage, which seems particularly beautiful this year, zip through Vermont and land in Montreal. We were enjoying the foliage, but stopped at a Rest Area in Vermont. First we were surprised by the big sign, Free Wi-Fi. Oh why hadn’t I brought the laptop?! We found that all the Vermont rest areas had Wi-Fi and many also had fax machines. A lot of work must be done on these highways.

Then we realized this handsome building with its beautiful landscaping was the Vermont Vietnam Memorial. The surprises continued as we wandered into the attached greenhouse and found that it was actually a Living Machine that treated all the wastewater produced in the rest area. This was a fascinating model of a way to handle wastewater, especially as we realize what a vital issue clean water will be in the coming years.

Montreal was beautiful and COLD! Wind! And even so roses were blooming at the Jardin Botanique. Including many tea roses. I want to find out if they just figure they will have to replace many of the tea roses every year, or if they have some secret way of protecting them through the snowy cold winters. Over 10,000 roses of many types are planted in the ‘river of roses’ that wind through the garden, but there were unexpected surprises including all the tuberous and bedding begonias that were still blooming heavily.

When we got to Quebec Ville our host, Grant, took us to an old historic park. The Bois do Coulonge has once been the home of the Lieutenant Governor, but the mansion burned long ago. The charming guard house remains as does what looks like a lovely chateau but is the servants’ housing, and the root house located next to the old vegetable gardens that needed to be extensive to feed not only the LG and his family, but all the servants. And as we were reminded many times during our Canadian visit, the winters are long there. A great deal of food needed to be put by, and people had to eat according to the seasons. We are trying to return closer to that system ourselves, and I was amazed at the size of the root house.

But the real reason for our trip to Canada was to visit our friends the McConnell family who we met when we were all working in Beijing in 1989. Grant is a linguist, Edmonde a talented and skilled textile artist. Sage Elise was 10 when we met her. She encouraged us in our bad French and was toujours charmante and gentille. She remains so, as do her parents, but she is also an ‘orthophonist’ (speech therapist) at a local hospital. Her work is so much more than I ever imagined was encompassed by the field of speech therapy. She works with the infants born with various and often extremely serious degrees of cleft palate.

In the garden we make of our life, our friends are among the most beautiful blooms. Sometimes we are privileged to watch the little seedlings grow, thrive and put out beautiful flowers, but also nourishing fruits. We may not have been the attentive gardeners, but we can share the joy.