Mary’s Garden

The Christmas story is filled with familiar scenes and characters, a harsh innkeeper, a stable, shepherds, wise men, angels and friendly animals keeping watch over a Babe in the manger. And, of course, the parents of that Babe. It is easy for me to imagine that those parents would have been even more anxious than any new parents. What did those angelic visitations and dreams really mean?

Poor Joseph doesn’t play a big part in the telling of the Christmas story, but Mary, the Virgin Mother has inspired artists, poets and story tellers down the centuries. She has even inspired gardeners who have looked in the faces of dozens of flowers and seen her purity, her history, and her attributes reflected there.

During the Middle Ages a tradition began of growing a garden dedicated to Mary. This Mary Garden included all the flowers that myth and legend assigned to her, beginning with the violet which sprang up outside the window after the Annunciation. As the Angel flew off he saw the new little flowers and blessed them with a sweet fragrance.

In a way, all flowers belong to Mary. May is her month, not because it can be considered a diminutive of her name, but because in May the gardens and fields all burst into glorious bloom.

Still, some flowers like the lily, have been associated with Mary for centuries. Medieval artists often portrayed her with a lily, “white without, and gold within”.  The rose is also a flower dedicated to Mary.

There are other white flowers that reflect Mary’s purity: the humble snowdrop that blooms in the early spring, the white rose and the daisy. Lilies of the valley have been called Our Lady’s tears because they sprang up as Mary wept by the cross.

Some flowers reflect Mary’s life in the home. The tall verbascum with its yellow flowers has been called Mary’s candle, and foxgloves have been known as Mary’s thimbles.

Strewing herbs, tansy, thyme and spearmint, spread on the floor in medieval times to sweeten the air (and discourage insects) were also reflections of her sweetness.

Tulips are planted in Mary gardens, a symbol of her soul opening up to God’s grace. The strawberry which produces delicate white flowers and fruits at the same time is a symbol of her virgin maternity.

When the Holy Family fled to Egypt to escape Herod, they stopped along the way to rest, and to allow Mary to do some washing up of the Christ Child’s clothes. She spread them to dry on the rosemary bush growing nearby, and ever after, for this help to the new mother, it bore flowers as blue as Mary’s robe.

The pine tree also helped the Family on their flight. One night an ancient pine invited them to shelter in its trunk. In the morning, when Herod’s soldiers were passing, the pine drew its branches around the three protecting them until it was safe for them to be on their way. In token of this help, the Christ Child blessed the tree and I have been told that if you break a pine cone you will find the Child’s handprint in the center.

Mary is sometimes depicted “Clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars”, like the Woman in the Book of Revelation. Because of this passage, a Mary garden should include marigolds for the sun, lunaria or moonflowers for the moon, corn flowers for her crown and daffodils for the stars.

Legends about plants that we all have in our gardens are charming. But I think these legends must also have been tools for teaching about faith in a time when most people were not literate, when children learned the domestic arts including gardening at their mother’s knee, and when there was time for storytelling as families worked together.

Some churches have planted Mary Gardens on their grounds, and some people have included a space for a private Mary Garden in their gardens. In both cases the garden, with its carefully chosen plants, serves as reminder of the Holy Mother and her virtues and compassion, and as an aid to meditation.

Advent is a meditative season, a time to prepare for the arrival of poor Child. Perhaps, after the difficulties of the year with more to look forward to, we are all more aware of this than usual. Perhaps in our meditations we will find compassion, and hope.

December 6, 2008

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Gifts for the Gardener

My gift shopping schedule fell to pieces when ice began falling out of the sky last week. But there is still time for the last minute shopping that any of us have to do.

I’m a gardener and I love presents so I don’t think it is hard to shop for a gardener. It’s not that we are greedy, it’s just that there are always new gadgets and equipment to try. Gloves, boots and clogs wear out and need to be replaced. Aching bones need to be soothed in a bubble bath and hands smoothed with creams.

I stopped at the Shelburne Farm and Garden Center on Route 2 and saw that they are once again selling LED (light emitting diode) Christmas lights for $30. I stocked up on these last year as part of my energy saving efforts. LED lights use a fraction of the energy used by regular lights. I have white snowflake LED lights that have a slight bluish cast for the windows, and colored tree lights that almost look like gumdrops on the tree.

Because we gardeners love birds that keep our environment in balance, the SF&GC has lots of bird feeders, big ones and little ones, from $5 to $80. They have net thistle sock feeders or $4 and special oriole food for $3. I had no idea that orioles liked feeders and food similar to hummingbirds. A trip to the store is educational.

In addition there are big sacks of all kinds of seed mixes costing about $35 as well as suet cakes in various sizes, with blueberries, or peanuts, or sunflower hearts. Costs vary from $3 to $10. Suet is an important part of a bird’s winter diet.

Then I was off to the Greenfield Farmers Co-op Exchange on High Street. They also have LED Christmas lights. Everyone wants to save energy, and money, wherever they can.

When I was having so much trouble with my hip (before replacement surgery) I became aware of the benefits of tools with extendable handles. Corona makes a family of such tools with steel handles that extend from 18 to 32 inches. There is a small rake, a hoe/cultivator and a trowel, each costing about $12. Corona also makes a sturdy 24 inch bypass pruner for $30.

I like Corona tools because in addition to their good quality they have bright red handles. I don’t know about you, but I have spent any number of hours looking for tools I’ve forgotten in the grass or in the flower bed. Of course, I have a friend who had the same problem and he wrapped all his tool handles in orange fluorescent tape. Maybe a roll of bright tape could be stuffed in a stocking to brighten up favorite old tools.

Harvesting vegetables can be a dirty business. Pike’s Original Maine Garden Hod is a wood and heavy coated wire ‘basket’ that allows the gardener to give vegetables a good wash with a hose before bringing them into the kitchen. A small one (about 8 by 16 inches) is $35 and a larger one (about 10 by 20 inches) is $40.

I stopped at GreenFields Market and found a whole garden in the skin care department. Avalon Organics lavender bath and shower get or lotion are both just under $19 for 32 ounces. One With Nature Triple Milled Rose Petal Soap is made with Dead Sea salt and shea butter. One bar is $3.69. Triple milling means a bar will last a lot longer than a bar of Dial.

Wise Ways Herbals Rose Garden body powder does not contain talc, and costs $6. Favorite fragrances for these toiletries seem to be rose, rosemary, lavender, orange and lemon, scents that sooth or invigorate. Naturally I always go for the rosy fragrances.

We gardeners know how to get dirty, and scratched, but we can enjoy a fragrant cleaning up process.

Gardeners need bowls and vases. The Shelburne Artists Cooperative on Bridge Street has beautiful wooden bowls made by Deb Lively, ranging in price from $200 to $900. Filled with fruit or vegetables they’d make a creative centerpiece.

In addition there are simple or stunning blown glass vases by Tucker Litchfield, Leslie Kearsley and Keith Cerone. Prices range from $20 to $500.

You can give a gardener, or a non-gardener, a plant. A brilliant poinsettia or cyclamen will brighten the holidays for anyone, whether or not they are interested in trying to carry over til next Christmas. At Plants for Pleasure on Bridge Street in Shelburne you can buy poinsettias ranging in price from $8 to $42, peace lillies from $4 to $25, Norfolk Island pines from $6 to $45, or gorgeous little mini-vases blown by Michael Armstrong.

Not all gifts are found in a shop with a price tag. We can always give the gift of love and labor in the garden. What about a promissory note for 2 hours of weeding, or lawn mowing or any directed labor? Or the promise of a perennial division? An afternoon of steamy jelly making?

Any gift we choose is really a wish for the recipient’s happiness and well being. I wish you happy and well throughout this whole holiday season.

December 20, 2008

Chistmas is Over

Saturday we went to daughter Betsy’s house for our third family Christmas gathering and we got all the traditional holiday treats. First there was a toy needing assembly. In this case a very simple cat Rolling Rocker. Rory and Tynan are going to the animal shelter this week to choose two kittens and all they wanted was everything about cats. They got a calendar (365 kittens!), two books about cats, kitten napkins, kitten toys and the rolling rocker. They are ready for kittens.

Uncle Chris’ dog Bibi gave the rocker a try, but he is too fat to make it go.

Every family needs an Uncle Chris to play with the nephews and the electronics. Nieces too. Ipods were thick on the ground.

On the other hand surprising things provide a great deal of holiday entertainment. Babies love wrapping paper and boxes. The boys loved the new ottoman with ‘secret’ storage. In and out. Open and closed.

Holidays are exhausting. For everyone. Finally the eating was done, the presents opened, basketball games played in the driveway (temperatures in the 50s), more eating and Rory wrapped himself in his new microfleece blanket (his favorite gift) and took a nap. We left for home, taking Ryan with us to extend our holiday treat.

Christmas Eve

Alerted by Michelle over on Garden Rant, I read the NYTimes op-ed piece by Oliver Morton about the strength of living systems on the earth. It is a beautiful piece, science and poetry combined, that is appropriate to the season of miraculous birth and new beginnings.

Sastrugi

Heath is famous for its winds. The Montreal Express comes racing down our hill creating wind ripples that are properly known as sastrugi.

I learned this word last year when my husband gave me Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape edited by Barry Lopez for Christmas. “A snowfield covered with sastrugi can look like the top of a lemon meringue pie, or like a desert sandscape, sculpted by wind into curvaceous dunes. The word comes from the Russian zastrugi, meanining a small ridge or furrow in the snow.”

Hellebore – The Christmas Rose

photo courtesy of mooseyscountrygarden.com

            As a lover of roses, I longed to plant a Christmas rose, although I could not imagine how, in Heath, it would bloom at Christmas. When my garden knowledge grew I realized that while I may be able to plant a Christmas rose and have it bloom, it is no rose, and will probably not bloom for me at Christmas.

            The Christmas rose is, in fact, a member of the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family. Its proper name is Helleborus niger. The word niger or black refers to the root of the plant, not the flower which can be white or a pinkish green. According to my Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia it is hardy to zone 3, which certainly includes Heath, but it is more likely to bloom late here in the fall.

            The first time I saw a hellebore blooming was at the Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston in the early spring.  This was probably the Hellebore orientalis, or Lenten rose. This is listed as hardy to zone 6, and might survive in Heath in a protected location. Where hardy it is considered the easiest hellebore to grow.

            The legend surrounding the Christmas rose is that on the night of the Christ Child’s birth, a little shepherdess  named Madelon was watching her sheep when she saw the Wise Men with their precious gifts hurrying to the stable, and the shepherds also gathering up dried fruits and honey to bring the Babe. She had heard the glorious news, but had no gift at all and wept.  An angel appeared; where Madelon’s tears fell, the angel brushed away the snow to reveal the delicate Christmas rose.

            It is important to know that all the hellebores are very poisonous, leaf and root. They have been used medicinally, but they have also been used on the tips of poison arrows.  Animals understand poisonous plants. You will find hellebores on lists of deer-proof plants.

As a reminder, other dangerous plant poisons come from the nightshade, hemlock and aconite.

Native to Europe, and usually found on sweet soil in the sun, hellebores have proved adaptable to our more acid American soil. They are also happy in the woodland garden. They like a moist soil, but not wet. A poorly drained site will kill a hellebore long before a drought will.

Both the Christmas rose and the Lenten rose are acaulescent, which is to say the flowers have no stem. The flower rises directly out of the soil. Another familiar stemless flower is the autumn crocus or colchicum. 

The evergreen leaves are smooth and dark green. The flowers are actually a modified calyx which means the flowers bloom for up to three months. (Another long blooming flower is the poinsettia whose flower is actually made up of long lasting bracts surrounding a tiny sterile flower that most people barely notice.)

The Lenten rose is different in bloom season, coming in the spring, and the as the flower stalk rises above the flattened leaves, it branches out into a cluster of flowers. The modern hybrids have a vigor that makes them easy to grow.

Over the years many hellebore hybrids have been developed and are available to gardeners through specialty nurseries. Some hybrids have the simple single flower form, but others are many petalled, some are spotted, and the color range has been increased.

There are other hellebores. Hellebore foetidus, the stinking hellebore, only has leaves that will leave a bad smell on your hands. These evergreen leaves are two feet tall with foot long spikes of bell-like green flowers.  This variety is listed as hardy in zones 6 and 7.

Plant Delights (http://www.plantdelights.comis an excellent specialty nursery offering many cultivars of many plants.  If you are a hosta lover, this is a nursery you must visit. They also have a large selection of hellebores, including many hybrids.

It is interesting to me that the excellent Plant Delights catalog and website gives different hardiness information than my Wyman’s.  My book uses the 1971 hardiness map which has been updated several times since then. This is a lesson for all of us, to beware of some of the information in older books, and to pay a lot of attention to the information given by the nurseries where we buy plants. Tony Avent, founder of Plant Delights, is one our country’s most respected nurserymen and I put a lot of faith in his catalog listings.

For those who want to see if they can catch a Christmas rose in bloom, Tower Hill Botanic Garden (www.towerhillbg.org), home of the Worcester Horticultural Society, is open Tuesdays through Sundays right through the winter from 10 to 5 PM except for Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.

Tower Hill is a wonderful resource even when we can’t visit.  Every Wednesday from 2-4 PM you can call 508-869-6110, extension 110 to ask questions about plants and gardening. 

With the arrival of the holidays you might want to consider giving a gift membership to the Worcester County Horticultural Society. The cost is $55 for an individual and $70 for a family, providing a newsletter, discounts on programs, in the gift shop and at their plant sales, as well as unlimited free visits to see the hellebores, daffodil hill, wild garden, apple orchard and many other garden delights.   

November 28, 2008

Holiday Cactus

Thanksgiving cactus

            Flowers are a part  of the festive holiday decorations.  Some are even named for the holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus bloom in shades of white, pink and red all through the holidays. They are hardy plants needing very little care, but it is important to remember that even though we call them cactus, they are not desert plants.

Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus are actually a part of the Schlumbergera family, natives of moist tropical forests. They are succulents but need to be watered from spring until fall. Let them dry out between waterings.

Neither do these cactus need direct sun.  In the tropical forest they would be shaded. The ideal location indoors is a cool room with bright indirect light..

I put my plants outside for the summer. They get plenty of water and filtered light on our piazza. I don’t bring them in until mid-September or when I start to fear a frost. Cool autumnal temperatures cause them to set flower buds even if they don’t get 12 or more hours of dark at night which is the usual advice.

When I bring them in I keep them in unheated bright rooms that are not much used, and therefore dark when the sun goes down.  This regime brings them into bud at exactly the right season.

My red Thanksgiving cactus, Schlumbergera truncata,  also called the crab cactus because of the sharper toothed stem segments, is well budded right now. My Christmas cactus, S. bridgesii, has smooth rounded leaf segments and a deep pink flower. It has set tiny buds that will bloom after the Thanksgiving cactus.

There is also an Easter cactus that looks similar but it is Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri and blooms in the spring. It may produce flowers at the joints of stem segments as well as at the stem ends.  Its cultural requirements are also pretty much the same.

Once the buds have set, the biggest threat to blooming is temperatures that go above 70 degrees, causing the buds or flowers to drop.

All these plants can be repotted in the spring after they have bloomed. A good soil mix should include 1 part potting mix, 1 part perlite and 2 parts peat moss. Some people have good success using an African violet potting mix.

Stem cuttings can be rooted anytime except when the plants are blooming. I’ve had new plants take root when I haven’t noticed that a stem segment has broken off and fallen into the pot; this plant is among the easiest to propagate .

There is something very satisfying for the indoor gardener to have a large Schlumbergera with its arching branches and brilliant flowers with so little effort.

Even though it does not bloom during the winter holidays, I’m going to mention the orchid cactus, or epiphyllum. This is a magnificent plant, much larger than the other plants I have discussed here. The heavier fleshier stem can be three feet or longer, but can be controlled by judicious pruning.  Mine has bloomed sporadically at different times. I just recently had a few blossoms, but mostly it blooms out on the piazza in the summer.

The orchid cactus is also a native of the tropical jungle and has all the same requirements as the other tropical cactus..

 Last week I wrote about forcing hardy bulbs, and a reader asked me how to force amaryllis. Amaryllis bulbs are sold around this time of year, already conditioned, in order to bloom in big glamorous glory during the holidays. Each bulb will produce two or three, or even four gorgeous trumpet shaped blooms.

Amaryllis are more expensive than hardy bulbs, but they can be successfully carried over to bloom again indoors.

The bulb is large, and it is good to choose a firm good sized bulb, if you have that choice.  Many garden centers sell the bulbs with a pot that is all ready to go.  Even though the bulb is large, it should be given a pot that is only a little larger than the bulb, allowing about a half inch all around. Amaryllis like being potbound.

Potting soil for amaryllis should include some compost and perlite.

Fill your pot about half to three quarters full of your potting mix, set in the bulb and add more mix, firming it well, but leave the upper half  or third of the bulb exposed.  Watering will help settle the potting mix, and you may find you need to add a little more.

Amaryllis like to be warm (70 to 75 degrees) in a sunny location with at least four hours of direct sun a day. When it is in bloom a slightly cooler location will help the flowers last longer

Depending on the variety, the bud will present itself first.  Whenever the bud appears make sure to keep rotating the pot so that the flower stalk will not lean towards the light.  Amaryllis flower stalks are strong and no staking is needed.

During this growth and blooming period amaryllis should be watered  well, as soon as they are dry, and fertilized every two weeks.

After blooming the flower stalk should be cut off near the top of the bulb.  As with all bulbs the foliage should be left to gather new strength in the sun, because they can bloom again after a period of dormancy.  I’ll revisit this after Christmas. 

November 15, 2008

Winter has arrived

Winter is officially here. Last week my daughter said she was tired of winter, and it hadn’t even started yet. Krishna is knee deep in snow, but he prefers it to the ice that left many people in our town without power or phones for eight days.

We had substantial snow Friday but yesterday it just flurried. Early this morning it began again and is falling, falling falling.

Ice Damage Continues

Coming home from working at Heath’s Emergency Shelter yesterday, I had to come the long way home because of power trucks still working on our road. I had to pass this spot on Rowe Road where the landowners had cleared a large field providing a magnificent view west to Mount Greylock. No matter the season or hour, the view of field, mountain and sky is always breathtaking.

This major limb on our ancient apple tree didn’t come down immediately during the ice storm, but it finally tumbled, waiting for my inspection when I finally made it home. I’ll have to take a picture in the light; the damage from a storm two years ago will also be very clear. We placed our Cottage Ornee in the shelter of this apple, but the shelter is becoming less and less. It still gives a good crop of apples, though.

Heath’s Ice Storm

Even the workers from Verizon and National grid must have seen some of the beauty through the damage that the heavy ice caused. We were fortunate that there was no wind, even though it was very cold, or even more damage would have been caused and the workers would have had much more trouble.

This yellow birch is a tree I love and I have often photographed it. It was so beautiful in the rosy light, but it was clear that it has been damaged. I will hope that Mother Nature’s pruning will turn out not to have been harmful.

The view in back of the house has never been picturesque, but the clothesline is a goner and the chickens will have much more sun.

On the other hand, the henhouse door has never been so picturesque. To get through I feel I am travelling through the Crystal Forest in the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale.

My poor white lilacs!
Krishna doesn’t mind, so maybe we shouldn’t get too upset.

We can get water out of the dug well in the Lawn Bed for dishwashing and flushing.

And once Henry and friends cleared away the hemlock we could Get Out.

We celebrated our friend Suzy’s birthday and Peter brought the fabulous dinner. I brought the fruitcake birthday cake. No genoise with meringue butter cream this time!

I was too late for the Living Nativity at the Charlemont Federated Church but arrived just in time for refreshments (typical some would say) and to admire Mary and the Baby Jesus.

When I got home the sun was setting, and by 6 pm the Power Was On. All’s well that ends well.