Year of the Tiger

L. henryi

The Chinese Year of the Tiger has been rung in with drums and dancing, and jiaozi, the delicious stuffed dumplings  that are said to be shaped like silver money and symbolize a year stuffed with good things – and riches.

We have celebrated many Chinese New Years since our first trip to live and work in Beijing in 1989. While there we learned that while there are 12 animals in the 12 year Chinese zodiac, the full cycle takes 60 years to complete. Every 12th year is considered a ‘dangerous’ year, and when you think about it there are often great physical and social changes every 12 years or so. Puberty at 12,  marriage at 24, full family life at 36, and edging into old age at 48. When you arrive at 60, the full cycle is complete and you begin again; 60 is a time of new energy and new possibilities.

My husband Henry was born in the Year of the Tiger and it just occurred to me that I made a lucky choice when I  planted Henry lilies from Old House Gardens last fall.  Henry’s Lily (Lilium henryi) is an old Chinese wildflower that is described as having ‘tawny-orange petals’ which sound very tigerish to me.

I have been planning a Henry garden, or at least a Henry collections for some time. In addition to Henry’s Lily, I also planted White Henryi, lily (white with a’starry heart of apricot and cinnamon”) a newer lily hybridized by the same man who created my sturdy and hardy Black Beauty lilies.

So far, the only other Henry plants I have are the white flowered clematis henryi that climbs through my Celestial rose, and  Henry’s Garnet sweetspire, a small shrub that has white summer blooms and crimson fall color.

I am looking for suggestions for other Henry plants and will welcome all the help you can give me.

Images courtesy of Old House Gardens.

Winning Hamentaschen

Hamentaschen

I won a box of hamentaschen from Kosher.com.  I made a comment on one of my favorite blogs, Our Grandmother’s Kitchens, and this is my reward.

Hamentaschen are a treat served at the feast of Purim when the beautiful Queen Esther saved her Jewish people from the machinations of the wicken Hamen. I am ready to celebrate all holidays that are commemorated with sweet treats like this.

My Valentine

Some of my raw materials

As we prepared to leave the bookmaking workshop at The Art Garden, Jane Wegscheider, our teacher and muse, said those of us planning to attend the Valentine workshop should start collecting the memorabilia or photographs that we would need.

Hmmmm. This suggested that we would not be making traditional Valentines with lace and ribbon, or even clever and artistic Valentines like those Sandra Denis was selling down at the Arts Coop in Shelburne Falls. I was particularly taken with one that showed a candle with a shiny gold flame and a gorgeous moth singing ‘I’m attracted to you.’

But Henry and I have been married too long for mere attraction. How would I express that?  MAPS!  Henry loves maps and we have traveled many long roads together. I even have a photo that my  cousin took of our backs as we walked down a dirt road in Leyden with Kathy, my youngest in 1972. I always called that photo The Road to Pork Corners, the mythical rural place where we would finally settle down.

About ten years ago Henry went back to school at Umass and got a degree in Geography with a specialty in cartography, the making of maps. His skills helped Heath get their first official tax maps while he served as an assessor. Maps would be my theme.

More raw materials to be photocopied

I made copies of maps and photos of roads we had traveled from The Road to Pork Corners, across continents, and to The End of the Road.  Our life in eight pages.

The Road to Pork Corners 1972

When I began I expected to make a simple card, albeit with several pages, but it became something more, something unexpected, with layers, complexities and embellishments I never imagined.  Something like our life.

Layers upon layers, with embellishment

New Year’s Day 2010

New Snow, New Year

Red Brocade by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Arabs used to say,
When a stranger appears at your door,
feed him for three days
before asking who he is,
where he’s come from,
where he’s headed.
That way, he’ll have strength
enough to answer.
Or, by then you’ll be
such good friends you don’t care.

Lets to back to that.
Rice? Pine nuts?
Here, take the red brocade pillow.
My child will serve water
to your horse.

No, I was not busy when you came!
I was not preparing to be busy.
That’s the armor everyone put on
to pretend they had a purpose
in the world.

I refuse to be claimed.
Your plate is waiting.
We will snip fresh mint
into your tea.

I first read Naomi Shihab Nye when I was a librarian and bought her young adult novel Habibi for the collection. This story of a modern teen who moves from St. Louis to Jerusalem with her Palastinian family and her struggle with the clash of cultures could very well reflect her own multi-cultural background. She has also written many books of poetry. I don’t know which book Red Brocade is from; it came in the Crhistmas card sent by a young friend. It reflects their life, and the life I would like to lead.

It is also a perfect companion to the poem I had originally planned for this Muse Day. When I heard the 88 year old poet Marie Ponsot read from her new book, Easy, on the PBS Newshour I had to order it immediately. Simples is the poem that first inspired me.

Simples by Marie Ponsot

“what do I want

well I want to
get better”

Thank you Carolyn gail for hosting Muse Day. For more muses logon to Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Will She or Won’t She?

My Thanksgiving cactus has been budded for weeks and I thought she would be blooming right on time. But right on time is tomorrow!  I’m inviting her into the warm room of the house today.  I should have thought of that earlier.

There is no question that this calendar will prompt me to get everything done on time. This beautiful calendar prepared by the University of Massachusetts Extension Service has 12 gorgeous photos of plants, exotic, common and useful and tips about the timing of garden chores. There is room to write in some of your own reminders.

I like the first page of the calendar which lists attractive plants for pollinators at every season. Sometimes we forget that bees and other pollinators need shrubs and trees as well as the perennials that put in our gardens.

The calendar makes a great gift. To order go to www.umassgardencalendar.org or send $12 payable to UMass and mail to: Garden Calendar, c/o Mailrite, 78 River Road South, Putney, VT 05346.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Christmastime is Wreathtime

The Greenfield Garden Club held its wreath-making workshop last evening at Chapley’s Garden in Deerfield. Linda Tyler knew what she was doing and helped all the rest of us who didn’t.

Chapleys provided all manner of greenery from blue spruce to euonymus, rose hips, pine cones and I don’t know what all – except that a lot of different and unique wreaths were being created all around me.

Karen Helbig and I were working side by side. She was a novice, like me, but somehow her result was more impressive than mine.

Karen was a good sport and took this photo of me, trying not to laugh or look too embarrassed.

I did get some good tips for improving my second wreath which I will form on a wire coathanger.

* Make a generous ‘hand’ of greenery, the handfuls of green branches that will be wired tightly, hand by hand around the wire form – or coathanger.  The ‘hands’ don’t have to be long, but they should include several small branches.

* Different types of greenery can be used in a single ‘hand’. The differing textures can make the wreath more interesting and attractive.

* You can use the greenery right side up, or occasionally turn a branch over for a contrast in color.

* Pine cones can have a wire twisted around the base of the cone, as low as possible, and these can be wired onto the wreath for decoration.

* Essential note: make sure you tie a colored string or ribbon around your finishing loop, or you will never find it again!

I’m so happy to be a member of the Greeenfield Garden Club, where I find friendship and information, and a way to provide service to the community. For more information about the club logon on to the website which includes beautiful photos from last year’s garden tour.

The Flower of American Womanhood

On Veteran’s Day the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club, and the greater community, celebrated some of the women who have served in the Armed Forces. The women on the panel above, left to right, are Georgette Devine (Marines 1944-46), Trice Heyer (Army nurse 1967-72), Sandra Lucentini (Air Force 1988-92), and Sandra Magill who is still serving as a Reservist after 27 years in the Navy.

It was luck that we got to hear stories from four of the Services and hear how things have changed for women over the decades. Georgette was a mechanic, but a girdle was part of the uniform during WWII. Trice served as a nurse in Saigon and she reminded us that you don’t have to be on the battlefield to be deeply affected by war and feel the effects for years. Sandra Lucentini was sent to language school for a year, then recieved additional training in Russian and cryptography before being sent to Berlin right after the Wall came down. She was able to see the radical changes in Germany unfold. These women were all young when they enlisted, and though patriotic, they were looking for adventure as well.  Sandra Magill was a local high school teacher but it didn’t take much of a push to get her to enlist in the Navy. She was sworn in two days before her 35th birthday. Three days later and she would have been too old!

All three women served at historic moments, and they had stories to tell.  I was honored to be there for a wonderful evening.

On this Blooming Friday I celebrate these women who continue to bloom and make a difference in our community.

This potted annual verbena is the sole flower I have blooming outside on this Blooming Friday, but if you visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff you’ll find gardeners who may have a milder climate or more skill than I do.

Terror Among the Tomatoes

Happy Halloween! One way to strike terror into this night of goblins and ghosts is to think of the fears that plants have generated over the centuries. Deadly nightshade was rightly understood to be a poison, but other members of the family, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and peppers were less deadly and more delicious. The large pale flower of datura, another member of the family, is beautiful but equally deadly.

Not all peas (Lathyrus sativus) are benign, or all members of the corn family. Elderberry wine is good, but don’t put raw elderberries on your cereal, or you’ll be ingesting cyanide.

Amy Stewart’s book WICKED PLANTS: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities will keep you awake nights with its full catalog of Deadly, Dangerous, Destructive, Painful and Offensive plants, many of which  could be right in your own garden.  Boo!

My Love is Like a Red Red Radish

Radish photo from Purdue University

My Love is Like a Red Red Radish