Living on the Continuum

New Year’s resolutions. No matter how dismissive we try to be, no matter how skeptical we become, there is something seductive and promising about the date of January 1, the beginning of a brand new year.

I look at the blankness of the calendar’s pages, matching the blankness of the winter landscape and think about the ways I will fill the days of the new year, fill my days in the garden.

The older I get the unhappier I get with dichotomies, old or new, plain or fancy, dark or bright, good or bad. The older I get the more I see that we live in a continuum. We are always moving from one place to another.

Movement is irresistible and inevitable, but the movement is not always forward as in old to new. In the gardening world we see this in the tack of garden catalog promotions. They trumpet the New. Bigger! Better! Improved! There is the continuum, bigger, better and improved over the old varieties.

At the same time the old varieties, open pollinated varieties, heirloom varieties have come back into fashion and are once again New! The old flower varieties are again recognize for their charm, loveliness and fragrance, and old vegetable varieties appreciated for their flavor or hardiness or special suitability for a particular circumstance.  They are also appreciated for their value in maintaining a diverse gene pool from whence new varieties will be born.

As I’ve considered the continuum I’ve asked people whether they have any new year’s resolutions. I’ve gotten an earful.

“More light!” One gardener said she and her husband had been working on their house and gardens for nearly two decades. They suddenly realized the sheltering woods around their house had grown so tall and dense that they shut out the sun. “I used to cringe at every tree that was cut down anywhere, but no more.  The garden needs the sun.” And my friend assured me that lots of trees are left.”

This was a reminder to me that we have to be aware of how growth or depredation in our gardens creates the need to react to and work with those changes, whether it is trees that grow up and throw deep shade or old trees that blow down in storms resulting in unexpected sun.

Two other gardeners, one man and one woman, said their resolution was to get better equipment. Maybe a new tractor! Maybe just a new lawnmower. Both recognized the value of good sturdy tools and the necessity of caring for these tools and creating proper storage.  I have my own resolution to create better storage for my tools and supplies.

“More dahlias!” Now there is a resolution that touches my heart. Aside from the fact that dahlias need to be dug in the fall and stored properly all winter, they don’t require a lot of care. In the end you can even treat the tubers as annuals. In the late summer they start a long season of bloom. Dahlias come in so many sizes and flower forms that there is a variety for every type of gardener and garden aesthetic.  For me there is something about the big bold splashy vividly colored dahlias that really appeals. I’ve heard people call dahlias (surely only some dahlias) vulgar.  I just think those glorious big irrepressible blossoms are great fun.

“We need to improve our soil.” This from my own son Chris who has never paid a lot of attention to the garden.  Now he has a house that came with a yard of mossy compacted soil. Last year he put in a sod lawn, a mass of white rhododendrons, a holly hedge and a collection of shrubs around the house. Although he did take my advice about careful planting and compost, not everything has thrived. He is learning (the continuum again) that soil improvement is not a task you do once. It must continue throughout the life of a garden.

The custom of making new year’s resolutions gives us a ritual for looking at our past experience, in the garden and elsewhere. It also gives us a chance to think about new and interesting things we have seen during the year and to think about ways that we can incorporate some of those ideas in our own gardens.

Sometimes a review of the changes in our lives, children being born, children growing, children leaving, can affect the time we have for our gardens, or the kind of gardens we want to have.

Sometimes our interests change. With the easier availability of locally grown delicious vegetables the passion for a vegetable garden might wane, but a passion for dahlias might take its place.

Sometimes there is a change in our own health or strength and that compels a change in the scope of our gardens. The new year gives us a chance to consider the changes in our life and spurs us to think about shifting our efforts.

We toss around the words old and new, good and bad easily. But in the garden, as in life, it is movement along the continuum that keeps us balanced and happy.

I wish you all happiness in the garden all the new year long.

Between the Rows  December 2004

Hen House #5

Henhouse in a barn

When Doug moved to Heath his property came with a big barn, but the only livestock he planned on was chickens.  When he moved his office into the barn he had that space insulated. He also insulated the area where the chickens lived.

Only in the ceiling can you see the insulation but it is also behind the wooden walls. Chickens don’t need this kind of comfort, but I’m sure they appreciate it.  Even the door to the outside is insulated.  The chickens do have plenty of room, and a chicken door that gives them access to the outdoors.

Doug only has a small flock of chickens, but lots of egg boxes.

Foldable chicken roost.

I was particularly taken with this roost. It can fold up against the wall to make a clean out easier.

Doug is the only one I know who has a heated chicken waterer. The rest of us make do with rotating waterers in and out of the hen house.   Mine sits by the woodstove when I bring it in.

As I have visited all these henhouses  I have been fascinated by the unique elements that have been designed.

Sastrugi

December 28, 2010 8 am

It wouldn’t be snowy winter unless I was writing about sastrugi, the snow waves and caves created by the wind.  This is what the western edge of the Sunken Garden looked like at early this morning.  The snow storm has passed but the snow is cold and dry and the wind blows right across the field to the west.

December 28, 2010 2 pm

You can see how the shape of the snow has changed, especially where the sun is hitting in the center.

December 28, 2010 4 pm

The snow was still blowing and forming at 4 pm when the sun was beginning to set.

Fyrstekaka

To keep warm  I did some baking.  Inspired by the NYTimes story about Swedish bakeries, I got out my Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas and whipped up a Finnish Prince’s Cake, or Fyrstekaka.  My lattice isn’t very lovely, but when friends and I sampled it, we all agreed it was a hit.

Snow Storm

The season's first snow storm

It’s been cold and we have had dustings of snow here in Heath, but our first snow storm arrived Sunday. Flurries on and off all day, but coming down hard by 9 pm.  On Monday morning when I took this photo it was still flurrying but the wind was blowing so it was hard to say how much snow we had altogether.  The governor declared a State of Emergency so Henry got to stay home.

By evening the snow had stopped, but not the wind. Temperatures  in the low teens, but with a below zero wind chill. We got a little more than 6 inches of snow I think, and I’m  grateful for any moisture that will  ultimately return to the ground, but I wish it had been more.

Divine Salvia

My annual salvia in October

It was a surprise to see Salvia on the front page of the NYTimes Sunday Styles section.  Salvia has become stylish?

However it was not Salvia officinalis,  culinary sage, which is important in many holiday dressings and dishes at this time of the year  that was getting this publicity, nor even the Christmasy red annual salvia (Salvia splendens) that is so common in many bedding plant projects.  Unbeknownst to me, who does not keep up with Miley Cyrus or the drug culture, it is  Salvia divinorum, a hallucinogen, legal in California, that has been making the news.  The NYTimes describes “intense 15 minute highs” and some states have banned the herb.

However, many plants have chemical components that can be used for good or ill, or fun, and Salvia divinorum may be one.  “The herb’s active component, a complex molecule called salvinorin A that affects the brain’s Kappa receptors, could be useful in understanding Alzheimer’s disease, cocaine addiction and chronic pain. “We stumbled across a gem,” said Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who has studied salvia. He believes it is nonaddictive and free of neurotoxicity. “It could be that this is our first glimpse into a whole therapeutic pathway.”

I am glad that scientists will find this plant useful, but I am happy to maintain the common culinary sage in my herb garden, May Night perennial salvia with its tall, deep blue flowering spikes in the Lawn Bed, and an annual blue salvia edging the Shed Bed.  Blue summer skies and blue salvias give me as intense a high as I desire.

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

The need to find symbols for eternal mysteries lies deep in the human family. At this time of the year the landscape is bare and frozen. All the life of nature seems to be frozen and dead. Gone is the verdant green, brilliantly colored flowers, rushing waters. The days grow ever shorter; even the sun seems to be failing. Ever since the beginning of time humans have faced the terror of this seeming death and looked for hope. Many cultures have found it in the family of evergreens that flourish in the cold and the dark. Life is not extinguished, it keeps burning in these trees and shrubs.

Long before there was Christmas many cultures considered trees to be sacred. The evergreen, whether the fir of the Northland or date palm of Egypt, spoke of an enduring life at a time when nature seemed to be dying.

The oak was sacred in Germany and worship of this tree was still strong in Germany in the early 700s. St. Boniface who came from Britain to convert the Druids is the hero of one tale about the fir tree. As part of his sermon on the nativity and to prove that the sacred oak was not inviolable, the saint chopped one down. The huge tree crushed everything in its path except for one little fir sapling. According to legend, Boniface said this was a miracle and called the little fir the tree of the Christ Child.

Another legend says that Saint Winfred in Scandinavia came upon the war god Thor’s priests about to make a human sacrifice in front of the sacred thunder oak. Saint Winfred drew out his axe which almost magically cut down the great tree. The tree fell and split apart, but a young fir tree stood by. The saint declared the fir a tree of peace, and that when brought into their homes it would not mark deeds of blood but acts of love and kindness. Like Boniface, he called it the tree of the Christ Child.

The decorations are a reference to the old Paradise Plays which brought Bible stories to life with settings and characters. In the play’s Garden of Paradise there was a tree hung with apples. Eventually, Christmas trees were decorated with paper flowers and glittery ornaments as well as paradisiacal apples.

We think of Christmas trees as being tall, but the earliest trees were small. By the mid-1500s there were rules about how high a Christmas tree could be. Not very high. For centuries  most Christmas trees were table top trees. It was an illustration of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert celebrating with their children and a lighted and decorated table top tree that captured the fancy of the greater public and made the Christmas tree a more common part of the holiday festivities.

The Germanic people can take much of the credit for the decorated Christmas tree. Martin Luther is even credited with adding lights. According to the legend he was walking home one winter night working on his sermon. He was struck by the beauty of the brilliant stars shining above the evergreen woodland. When he got home he wanted to create this loveliness for his family. He put up a tree and wired candles to its branches.

The custom of decorating and lighting trees traveled to Scandinavia and England (the English royal family had Hanoverian antecedents). It was German immigrants who brought the Christmas tree to the United States in the 17^th century.

On the other hand the puritans who first settled in Massachusetts were against customs that joyously celebrated Christmas. For them the sacred solemnity of Christ’s birth outweighed the joy related by the angels.  William Bradford, the second governor of the colony, wrote about the “pagan mockery” of festive Christmas celebration and set penalties for those who indulged in such frivolity.

Celebration has won out, of course. In 1823 in York Pennsylvania the Society of Bachelors set up a Christmas tree and advertised it as “Superb, superfine, superfrostical, schockagastical, and double refined.”

Later in the late nineteenth century the desire for Christmas trees was common enough that Christmas tree lots sprung up in New York City.

Public Christmas trees with electric candles were set up in Finland in 1906. It is easy to imagine the appeal of such a tree in a country where winter days are so short and dark. But New York was not far behind.  It had its own electrically lit Christmas tree in 1912.

In addition to their cultural traditions every family has its own Christmas traditions. Some families put up their Christmas tree on Christmas Eve but mine is always up well in advance so that I can enjoy its gaiety with my family and friends. It doesn’t come down until the arrival of the Three Kings on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6.

Between the Rows   December 2003

A Treeful of Memories

The tree is up and decorated.  Each year I get so much pleasure and I add each ornament. The tree contains memories that go back more than 60 years.  After my mother’s death my brothers and I had to empty her condo and split up her belongings. There were no surprises until we got to a big storage closet in the garage that, among other things, held boxes and boxes of Christmas tree ornaments dating back to the 1940s.  My mother was much given to buying lots of new ornaments every year, but I never thought about what she did with the old ones. I actually do remember this  patriotic ornament; it is my husband’s favorite.

Many of the ornaments our children made when young were lost during a move, or being made of paper disintegrated, but we do have a collection of ornaments made by the grandchildren, so we go from the 1940s to the 1990s. And we have two great-granddaughters coming up!

Monkey King

When we lived in Beijing I bought a number of ornaments including a whole set of Monkey King characters. Monkey King is a major mischievous hero in Chinese literature and culture. He, along with Pigsy, Friar Sand and the Monk travel across the country to bring the Buddhist scriptures from India to China. Monkey King has magic powers and tools, but he does get himself and his companions into a lot of trouble. Many of the Peking Opera stories are based on Monkey’s adventures.

Some ornaments have been gifts that give a nod to our passions – like chickens . .

and the powers of the Garden Angel to make things grow in the garden.

Hozing Around

Hosearound

I have never used a hose guard, and I have certainly damaged plants as I have pulled the hose around the different beds. Hozearound sent me a sample of their product and I am looking forward to trying it out in the spring.  It is made of really sturdy steel and the stake that goes into the  ground is long. It can go 18 inches or a little more into the ground – assuming you don’t hit any rocks.  This means you don’t have to be super careful as you pull the hose through, especially since the black powder  finish is so smooth and shiny.  Expect to hear how it works in the spring. The cost is only $20 for three guides which seems very reasonable.

Evergreens in the Border

Holly "Blue Princess"

Thinking that they were too tender I avoided hollies for many years, but I finally decided to give them a try. I planted “Blue Princess” and “Blue Prince” about ten years ago. They are said to grow slowly, so I don’t know if I am too impatient, but they have grown very slowly.  They are growing in full sun, and there is no question that they are in acid soil. No need for Holly Tone fertilizer here.

Holly "Blue Prince"

The male plant, “Blue Prince” is growing even more slowly than his princess. And he didn’t even suffer from kids sliding down the hill and over the princess a couple of years ago.  The obvious point being made here is that hollies require male and female plants, whether evergreen or deciduous.  One male plant can pollinate several females.  My Princess has had berries, but not this year for some reason.  Once the berries have been frozen a few times they soften up and birds find them quite delicious.

Weeping Hemlock

Right next to the Prince is this Weeping Hemlock, planted at about the same time.  This has proved to be even slower growing than the hollies. It has spread out, but is still only about six inches tall. Maybe there is something going on with my soil. It is heavier, more claylike in this area.

Gold Threadleaf Cypress

At the other end of this border is the Gold Threadleaf Cypress, actually a chamaecypris. The deer have left it alone, which was a happy surprise for me.  The bright color is beautiful in every season, and I love the graceful way it falls. If the soil is limiting the speed of growth of the hollies and hemlock, it is having no effect at all on this shrub. It is growing just as vigorously as promised.

Fountain Juniper

The Fountain Juniper is also doing well in this bed. I bought it from Lilian Jackman at Wilder Hill Garden, along with a big pot of Northern Sea Oats. After two years both are thriving.

It is funny that I don’t realize how many conifers I have in the garden until I really took stock.  Now we are thinking about a BIG conifer project.  Just thinking.  I’ll keep you posted.

Choosing Our Christmas Tree

Henry and Holly

Henry and I set out Saturday morning to cut our Christmas tree. Unfortunately, this photo does not capture the field of diamonds that surround our house, but it does capture our cat Holly who likes to hike with us. This time we had to stop and put her back in the house.

Mystery tracks

We saw lots of animal tracks as we walked down the Rose Walk. I thought these were deer tracks, but Henry wasn’t so sure. A fair amount of activity though.

Me on the march

We left the Rose Walk and set off across the field to our Snow Break. This is a mixed planting of pines, with a few spruce and some balsams. The original planting has been added to occasionally over the years, partly so we can come down and choose our Christmas tree. I must tell you that as a snow break, this long grove of trees has been of great help to the road crew and to us in keeping the drifts on the road manageable.

Our choice

This balsam is much taller than the trees we usually cut, but it seemed to be the only one that was suitable at all. We cut high, and then we cut down the top a little; our ceiling is only eight feet.

It is a great joy to be able to cut our own tree. It is not always a perfect shape, but we figure that any bare spots just give us lots of scope for the ornaments and lights. The house smells wonderful.