Gifts of Christmas

Free Harvest Supper fudraiser for food pantry

As we race around shopping and buying Christmas gifts for the people we love, the Salvation Army bell-ringers seem an appropriate accompaniment. The Holy Family was poor, and enduring so much bad luck, that they had to find shelter in a stable for the birth of the Christ Child. It is not hard to imagine the fear that Mary must have felt as she labored to bring this baby into the world. Where were they to go from here?

And then the skies were filled with the heavenly host singing songs of joy, shepherds arrived to see what was going on, and finally three wise men arrived bearing rich gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It is those wise men who gave birth to the idea that all who celebrate the miraculous birth, should do so with gifts. Ever since, the world of myth and story tell of the desire to give a gift, and which gifts were most valued.

There is the story of the poor girl who wanted to bring a gift to the Christ Child, but had nothing to give. She searched for wildflowers, but it was the wrong season. Her tears fell on the snow and the first Christmas roses, hellebores, bloomed to make a bouquet she could carry to the stable.

Another little girl also wept because she had no gift to bring. She gathered what dried grasses she could to make a kind of bouquet, but when she laid them by the manger they were instantly transformed into brilliant poinsettias.

One of my favorite Christmas stories is about why the bells rang on Christmas. Two poor brothers were on the way through the snowy night to bring their small gift to church, a church that had bells that did not ring on Christmas unless a great and especially valuable gift was given. The bells had not rung for many years. The two boys trudged along as fast as they could until they came across an old woman collapsed in the snow. One boy left to get help, but before he returned to his brother he slipped into the church as the great congregation was leaving, disappointed that the bells remained mute even after the king had left his jeweled crow. The boy crept unnoticed up to the altar to leave his small coin and then, suddenly, the bells began to chime, but no one knew why because the boy had already left to return to his brother and bring help to the old lady.

A more modern story by O. Henry is about the poor young couple, each of whom gave up their dearest possession to buy a Christmas gift for the other. All of these gifts were valuable, not because of their intrinsic worth, but because they were given out of love. Something to remember as we stand in front of the bright and shiny wealth of the department stores.

We might console ourselves with the thought that the three wise men did not show much wisdom in their choice of gifts, except possibly the one who brought gold to the poor family. Those who pay attention to symbols might say that we don’t really know what the wise men brought, but gold is a gift appropriate to a king, frankincense, a fragrant resin from a tree, is symbolic of a priesthood, and myrrh, another tree resin, is also used in embalming. These three items are symbolic of Christ’s life, but one cannot help wondering what Mary and Joseph thought as they opened what I imagine was a jeweled gift casket to find an embalming agent.

Still, all three gifts were intrinsically valuable, and that value was going to be very important to the Holy Family as they learned that Herod had ordered the death of all male infants.

An angel warned Joseph that he should not return home and so they fled, with that noble donkey, for Egypt. The poor family had not planned an extended time away from home and Joseph’s livelihood. Surely the gold was welcome and then I imagine the frankincense and myrrh were sold to provide them with a home in faraway Egypt.

During their flight to Egypt legends are told about the plants who gave their own gifts of service to the family. Mary had to wash the Christ Child’s clothes. Unlike other plants, the rosemary allowed her to hang them on her branches. Ever since the rosemary’s flowers are as blue as Mary’s robe. At one point, with Herod’s soldiers drawing near, the holly allowed the Holy Family to hide within its branches. It immediately grew lush and green with prickly foliage. How can you measure the value of these gifts, of help with every day tasks, or the gift of safety in danger?

Now as we hurry to complete our Christmas shopping, and grocery shopping so that we can bake special treats and a feast for gathering family and friends, we hear the Christmas bells of the Salvation Army on the street, and the bells of  our own churches. I think they are asking – what valuable gift have I forgotten? What do you hear when you hear the Christmas bells?

Between the Rows   December 22, 2012

The First Snowfall of the Year

The first REAL snowfall of the year

I am counting this as the first  snowfall of the year, although there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground on Christmas so we  could all have a white Christmas and get an extra helping of Christmas spirit. Now we can enjoy the post-Christmas tranquillity, sitting by the fire, watching the snow snowing and the wind blowing. This photo was taken at 7 a.m.

More Christmas is coming with further gatherings with family and friends. Gourmet Club! and then we will enjoy more post-holiday tranquillity.

UPDATE – 3 p.m.

Snow December 27 3 p.m.

Over a foot of snow has fallen, with only a bit of snow still flurrying.

FURTHER UPDATE  December 28  11 a.m.

View to the south

Garden Books for the Young

Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn Galbraith

I’ve written  about a number of garden books for  the young over the past year. They are not how-to books although there are books that do lead a child  into  the garden with real instructions. My friend Kathryn Galbraith wrote Planting the Wild Garden and turned science into poetry. She reveals all the ways that Mother Nature spreads seeds over the landscape using the wind and rain, and hot sun that makes seed pods burst. The rivers and streams carry seeds long distances, and animals move sticky seeds from here to there and the birds drop seeds in their own inimitable way. Even we humans carry seeds when they stick to our sweaters and socks.  Wendy Anderson Halperin created the beautiful delicate and accurate illustrations.

Kathryn takes a different tack in Arbor Day Square, the story of a family that was part of the pioneer move westward, building towns where there had only been grass and woods before. The young girl in the story knows that trees have more value than utility, they are  for beauty too. As the story unfolds it is clear that trees are also about building community. A tender story that we can all identify with today. The illustrations by Cyd Moore are as bright and cheerful as a quilt.

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

For the very youngest potential gardeners Lois Ehlert has given us a board book that teaches colors and the rainbow sequence while showing bold stylized flowers.

When my five children were small the happiest part of my day was bedtime (so often the case for us busy mothers) when the children were bathed and in their jammies, and we could all sit down, and slow down, together to read. A whole wold of wonderful children’s books opened up for me and them at the same time.  Then we acquired 9 grandchildren and when they visit we have moved on from my reading to them, to evenings of Reading Aloud when we all read to each other, and sometimes we even invite other guests to join us. We even have two great-granddaughters now. I have not had many opportunities to read to them, but as a new kindergarten student Bella is already to read aloud to us!

While I cannot claim that my book, The Roses at the End of the Road is suitable for bedtime reading for the young, it does work very well for us older gardeners. Right now, for those who buy it directly from me, I am offering a sale price of $12 and free shipping until the Twelfth Day of Christmas, January 6. It is also on sale at the Kindle Store for $3.95.

The Roses at the End of the Road

With these suggestions come my wishes for a happy Christmas and a year filled with happy hours of reading, about plants, and gardens, and gardeners, and every fascinating thing out in our beautiful world.

More Christmas Gifts for the Gardener

Red pots at Shelburne Farm and Garden

I’m not saying gardeners are greedy, but it is true that it is easy to choose Christimas gifts for gardeners. When I wander through Shelburne Farm and Garden or Greenfield Farmers Coop I have all I can do hold myself in check. There are so many bright and sturdy items that will please and be useful to both novice and expert gardeners.

The Shelburne Farm and Garden Center has a wonderful collection of pots. So many of us are growing flowers and other plants in pots that a handsome pot is almost always a good choice. Two matching Christmas red pots, different sizes, really caught my eye, priced at $20 and $30.

The glove rack is a temptation. Gloves are always wearing out. MUD gloves are a particular favorite, some made with the wonderfully flexible nitrile, while others are heavier for jobs that require greater protection. Both types cost $10.

There are so many great gift choices from an array of bird baths, ceramic and metal, in the $70 t0 $90 range as well as a great collection of bird feeders and sacks of bird seed from $22 to $60. I was particularly struck by the  Bird Nester ($19), a wire cage filled with cottony fibers that is available for birds when they are building their nests. It made me think of Patricia Machlachlan’s tender children’s book, Sarah, Plain and Tall, where older sister Anna is cutting young Caleb’s hair, and sets out his curls for the birds to use in their nests.

On my way out of the store I couldn’t help picking up a few bulbs that were on sale and will be used for forcing. The Greenfield Farmers Coop also has bags of bulbs for sale right as you talk into the store. It might be too late to get bulbs in the ground, but there is plenty of time to force them. A great gift would be bulbs for forcing along with a bag of soil mix and a handsome pot. You could plant the bulbs yourself, or pass it on as a DIY project.

The Coop has a large array of tools. Good quality pruners like the Corona bypass pruner for $30 and the Corona needle nose thinning shears at $24 would make any gardener happy – though I hope that experienced gardeners long ago learned the benefits of quality tools and already have their own favorites. Although, if they had a second good tool they might be able to work with a companion.

I was particularly taken with the small, bright red, fixed tine shrub rake at $13. I have seen the Flower Brigade ladies using similar little rakes as they tended to their clean up chores on the Bridge of Flowers and saw how efficiently and gently they worked in the borders.

Tubtrugs at Farmers Cooperative in Greenfield

I loved the display of colorful Tubtrugs in sizes of three and a half to ten gallons. These light, strong flexible containers will hold a lot of weeds, or compost, or what you will, in the garden and around the house. I can imagine a wonderful gift of a bright Tubtrug filled with bags of Espoma fertilizer, seed starting mix, twine, Bag Balm and other small necessary and consumable garden items. Prices range from $9-$27 depending on size.

Compost makings are the result of every meal preparation. A bowl by the sink will serve, but not as handsomely as the lidded one, or one and a half gallon Compost Keepers ($27-$39), in stainless steel or ceramic.

As useful as these practical items are and as welcome as they will be, one could take a different tack to gift buying for the gardener. Luxury!

J.H. Sherburne has a new wing to her portraiture and frame shop in Shelburne Falls called Serious Whimsies for the Garden and Home. I do buy my own tools and consumables when necessary, but I never buy luxurious gifts for my garden like the stone rabbit and hedgehog sculptures for $80 and $30.  There is a wonderful big dancing angel planter for $90, but many more modestly priced planters like the stone bowl ($29) with a frog sitting on the edge. This could be planted with a bit of sedum or succulents for a really carefree bit of elegant whimsy.

Birch Bark Baskets at J H Sherburne’s Serious Whimsies

I also liked the birchbark baskets and containers that are perfect for holding holiday greens and decorations. The large flat basket ($30) would work as a handsome wreath substitute on the front door filled with greens. Smaller baskets, round and square, cost $9-$19. You can even buy silk flowers and greenery to fill them if you wish.

Siver jewelry at J H Sherburne’s Serious Whimsies

Of course, some of us might like to luxuriate in our gardens by wearing beautiful garden inspired jewelry. Sherburne has a small curated collection of delicate silver pins, a dragonfly ($50), a fern frond ($36) and a gold and silver sunflower bracelet ($100).

Though small, the shop is a treasure trove of whimsical delights. A fancy soap is shaped like a heavily frosted cupcake and the scented candles come in little milkbottles.

There are many ways to shop for gifts. Sometimes you know just what that special person in your life wants or needs. Sometimes you just want to surprise and delight which can take thought. Sometimes you have no clue. All these shops can provide you with a gift certificate – and gift certificates always make my eyes light up.

A final note – J H Sherburne is also noted for her portraiture including portraits of pets, or of pets with their owners.

Portrait by J H Sherburne

Between the Rows     December 8, 2012

Hemi-demi-semi Christmas Tree on Wordless Wednesday

Our newly cut Christmas Tree

We usually cut our Christmas tree from our own land. We are famous for having Charlie Brown trees. This tree strikes me as a hemi-demi-semi tree.

Our Christmas tree in profile

The only tree we could find was this section of a tree that had been damaged by the ice storm several years ago. It only has branches on one side.

I think this year, for the first time in over 30 years, we’ll be shopping for our Christmas tree.

For more (almost) Wordlessness click here.

Last Chance for Celebratory Book Giveaway

Roses at the End of the Road

Today is your last chance to leave a comment here  by midnight tonight and participate in the my book giveaway. You could win a copy of Beautiful No Mow Yards AND my own book The Roses at the End of the Road. I have enjoyed these past five years that has brought so many wonderful new people into my life. And useful and inspiring books like Beautiful No Mow Lawns from Timber Press.

I will choose a name randomly tomorrow morning and will announce the winner. Good luck!

Walking in the Woods Towards a Christmas Wreath

Storm damage in the woods

On Saturday my husband and I walked up what we call The Lane, the remnants of the old road that once led all the way to the next town of Rowe. We walked up the hill between two fields and into the woods.  We have done some logging in the woods, but when we walk there these days the extensive number of trees and limbs that have been toppled and broken are due to the big ice storm in December of 2008, then Hurricane Irene that did  devasting damage throughout the county in 2011 and the recent Sandy storm this past October. It is amazing to think that we have had these three severe storms in less than five years, when we had nothing like them in the previous 25 years.

We picked our way through the fallen branches to a large plantation of princess pine. We carefully clipped off a few dozen plants without disturbing the roots so  this planting could continue to grow.  We also collected branches from the white pine trees that have begun encroaching on our northern field, and a single very large red pine in the same field. We were collecting these branches to make Christmas wreaths. I was all inspired to make more Christmas wreaths after my lesson at Chapleys with the Greenfield Garden Club.

I made a final small harvest of greens from the Lawn Bed. The fountain juniper, Goldthread chamaecyparis,  and even the holly bush gave up a few of their branches for wreaths. I spent esterday afternoon on the piazza enjoying the mild weather while I wired the greens onto forms. I’m not done yet, but I think I’ve made a good start on my Christmas wreaths. Ornaments and ribbon to come.

Homemade Christmas wreaths and me

I Made This Christmas Wreath

My Christmas Wreath

One of the pleasures of belonging to the Greenfield Garden Club is the November meeting at Chapley Gardens where we have help and materials to make our own wreath.  This year I did pretty well. At least better than I did before.

weeds and hips in winter

Mother Nature decorates like this.

For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

My Container Garden of Succulents is Growing

Container garden of succulents

Seven weeks ago I gave myself an early Christmas present – a bowl in a classic shape (actually a sort of plastic flower pot) and four succulent plants. I had been inspired by reading Succulent Container Gardens by Debra Lee Baldwin which I had reviewed in this column earlier in December. I am not terribly good at caring for houseplants except for the succulents: a jade tree, an enormous orchid cactus, and Christmas and Thanksgiving cactus I had kept going for years. I was ready to try my hand at planting an interesting container with a variety of succulents.

The term succulent encompasses a whole variety of plants, from those I was familiar with like crassula (jade tree), aloes, sedums, and echeverias as well as a few I knew by their common name like string of pearls ((Senecio rowleyanus) and hen and chicks (Sempervivum tectorum). Dozen of other varieties and hundreds of cultivars are available – but not locally in December.

I was able to find a small selection of succulents at the Hadley Garden Center and chose four that have very different forms. Design is not my forte. Debra Lee Baldwin can design ka pot decorated with vertical white lines that “repeat the ribbing” of the Parodia scopa while the pebbley topdressing  “mirrors the brown in the pot and in the (plant) buds,” but that level of design is beyond me. At last so far.

By choosing a burro’s tail sedum, an echeveria with ruffled foliage, a spiky variegated haworthia in dark green with white dots in horizontal stripes (very fancy botanical terminology there), and a taller spiky aloe with toothed edges, I thought I was at least getting a variety of form.

The container I chose has a water reservoir which I decided could also serve the purpose of a drain. Succulents do not like to be kept wet. I also bought a bag of cactus potting soil suitable for succulents.

When I unpotted my little succulents I was surprised to see how potbound the roots were. However, I have found that this does not bother the plant’s health or development. I partially filled my container with potting soil and then put in my four new plants filling in between them with more potting soil. Baldwin, and our local container design genius Gloria Pacosa, frequently make the point that a container should be really stuffed with plants. I wasn’t sure that these four were really stuffed, but they were all I had. I also kept thinking that they had room to send out little baby succulents.

Their propensity to multiply is one of the joys of succulents. They are not only easy to grow, many of them quickly produce babies. Anyone who has ever planted a hen and chicks knows this. Those babies can be allowed to form big clumps, or they can gently be teased away from the mother plant, and set in soil where they will promptly start their own family.

Baldwin often finishes off her container planting with what she calls a topdressing, a decorative final touch. She has used colored crushed glass, black gravel, and pink crushed rock. Gloria Pacosa likes to finish off her containers with moss that she has harvested and kept for the purpose. I spent part of my childhood living with my family on my uncle’s Vermont farm on the shore of Lake Champlain. Now when I visit cousins there I always take home a bag of the smooth gray stones from the lake’s edge. I decided to use some of the smallest of these gray stones as my top dressing.

I watered my container and set it in the sun. My gift to myself was completed and I was a happy woman.

I wrote about the project, illustrated with not very good photographs, on my commonweeder blog. A couple of days later I was surprised to get an email from Debra Lee Baldwin herself. I think writers troll the Internet regularly to see if their books are getting any mentions. She found the commonweeder and the story of my succulent container. She is a very polite person and said I did a fine arrangement. She especially liked the smooth little stones I used as a topdressing because they carried affectionate family memories.

Then she asked to buy my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, inscribe it and mail it to a good friend and former California neighbor who had moved to western Massachusetts. Well, her friend turned out to be my friend Maureen Moore, who I was planning to meet in Shelburne Falls that very day! I hand delivered the book and now I consider us a friendship circle of three.

My succulent container moved all around the house during the Christmas holidays, sometimes in barely heated rooms and sometimes in our main living space which can get very warm. It has been easy to keep it in the sun where succulents are the happiest.

When I prepared it for its photo session today I saw the burro’s tail sedum is showing signs of growth, but it will be a while before the tails drape gracefully over the edge of the bowl.  I’ll keep you posted about further developments.

I welcome your stories about succulents you have grown and how you have handled them. You can send snail mail to me at 43 Knott Road, Charlemont, MA 01339 (Heath has no mail delivery) or email me at commonweeder@gmail. I look forward to hearing from you.

Between the Rows  February 4, 2012

I posted about planting this container here.

Christmas Extended – For the Birds

Pine cones, peanut butter, birdseed and ribbon

Christmas celebrations end for us on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. The wise men have finally arrived, the last gifts have been given and the party is over. But maybe not quite. When I take the Christmas tree down, I put it outside and decorate it for the birds. The ornaments are simple, but tasty, peanut butter smeared into pine cones and then rolled in bird seed.  A tie can be ribbon, yarn or twine, no matter.

Suet for the birds

I use an mesh onion bag to hold a piece of suet. Birds really appreciate suet to help them keep warm, although temperatures yesterday were again over freezing.

Suet and pine cone bird feeders

I tie these ornaments on my Christmas tree which is propped up by the brush burn pile. So far I have only seen bluejays taking advantage, but maybe that’s because blue jays are about the only bird I can identify. Except for robins.