Lessons from the Garden: Part 1

Mixed media with found poetry

 While out in the garden you are constantly learning about it and yourself. Thinking back to those early years when I was a mere novice in the garden, most of that learning came by trial and error. If I am honest with you, there were lots of errors at the expense of some lovely plants. Many of you may have started out gardening like I did by running out to the garden center, buying pretty blooms, and rushing home to plant. Let me give you some advice, before you head to the nursery take some time to figure out the sun patterns in your yard. They will vary from hour to hour, and season to season. 

 Lesson number 1: How to pick plants based on Sunlight Conditions - What does Full Sun really mean? Good question. Some plant tags and even gardening books may classify the planting conditions differently, there's Full Sun, Sun, Sun to Shade, Partial Shade, and Shade for examples of light conditions. That's where knowing your sunlight patterns are going to come in handy. 

 For example, that side yard of mine is full sun for almost the entire day. You have to be a hardy plant to survive being planted there. For this spot, I not only look for full sun, but also for the words drought tolerant in those plant tags. I've learned that some Full Sun plants like a balance of some sun and shade, and that could mean morning sun/afternoon shade or vice versa. You simply need to take the time and gain the experience working in your yard and with different plant species. I spent nine years getting to know my first yard, and close to twenty-one here at our second, and I'm only now getting the hang of it. 

P.S. Turns out some of those Shade plants actually want more sun than you might think. Oh, and watch out for the fact that trees do grow, and the result is that shade patterns do change. 

What to do with a broken stem of blooms

Gaillardia blooms from behind

The other day, while spreading bark mulch, I managed to damage a stem with two blooms on it. Instead of putting it in the weed bucket to add to the compost pile, I brought it in and placed it in a little glass bottle on my table. 

Later on, taking my seat at the table I focused in on the beauty of the back side of the bloom. So often we focus on what I will refer to as the 'front' or 'top' of the bloom, you know the showy part. Its purpose is to attract the pollinators and a human's appreciation. But how often do we bother to look underneath all the petals to examine the structures below? 

From this view (photo left) you can see the sepals, the leaf like petals that protect the bud. Look closer and you can see the veins in the leaves filled with pigment. The second bloom in the picture has lost most of its petals and you can notice that the flower head is on its way to seed production.  

Gardening seems to be a companion passion for many artists. Monet's home and garden in Giverny with those wonderfully inspiring ponds and waterlilies; Frida Kahlo's courtyard in Mexico City, Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico, and Barbara Hepworth in Cornwall, and Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm in the Lakes Region (Follow this link for more on these artists and their gardens).

Color pencil and pen sketch of Gaillardia pulchella 

Inspired, I sat down and did a colored pencil and pen sketch of my blooms commonly known as Indian Blanket or their scientific name Gaillardia pulchella. I am currently working on developing my drawing skills and seek to get a sketch a day completed. Keep following for further examples of my garden beauties and my attempts of capturing them on paper. 

Welcome Back to the Garden

Early Summer Garden

 It's been two years since the last post, and what a ride they have been, let's just say that the COVID Pandemic had more impact on me than I would have thought. Work turned out to take more of my time and energy than expected. Although I kept gardening, sharing those experiences on this blog wasn't a top priority. 

One day in February, I found myself reevaluating life and my purpose. I knew my mental and physical health and wellbeing were under threat and I needed to change the way I was approaching the day to day challenges of living. I no longer wanted to be muddling through the day making a living, but rather to work towards making a life. To that end, I decided to leave my job, taking a year to search for what's next. I'm very grateful to be in a position right now in my life to be able to undertake such a journey in self-exploration. 

My job ended in late June, and since them I have been spending many hours out in the garden. At the end of each work session, my body is sore but in a good way. If you are an avid gardener, you get it, it is the aches of a job well done accompanied by a sense of satisfaction. Today it is raining (again thankful to nature for providing the necessary moisture when so many are facing water shortages) giving me the opportunity to sit down at the computer and share my story. Moving forward, I'm hoping to find that balance in life where I can do both garden and write about it. 

Starting over

    
It's been a while since I've posted to this blog, and I figured it was time to start again. The original theme of this blog was going to be all about the world outside my window especially focusing on my garden and other natural wonders. Believe it or not my first blog was the result of a graduate course in how to incorporate technology into the classroom. How ironic does that seem to me today after wrapping up a school year where at a moment's notice I went from being a classroom teacher to teaching everyday from the desk in my living room. Graduate school doesn't prepare you for these types of challenges but living certainly does. Nature itself teaches us to be open to new things, to be flexible, to be open minded, to be patient, and that we are not in charge of the garden (or the world for that matter) no matter how much we might like to be. 

Gardening is a creative collaboration between the gardener and their plot. The gardener needs to learn about what kind of soil they have, what are the sun and shade patterns throughout the day, and what can grow best in those types of conditions. From the start, I have been one of those gardeners who buys what she likes and hopes for the best. Eighteen years have passed since I started the garden in this yard and every year it expands and changes and I'm pretty happy with that. I've never been bored by my garden. Frustrated perhaps but where would the learning come from if everything worked out perfectly. 

Art Journal Piece- Mixed Media Collage 

Mulch pile

There, the first five yards of bark mulch are finally spread.  Unfortunately there is a heck of a lot more garden that needs mulching. Sounds like someone needs to call the garden center for another order. Oh and then I suppose that same someone will have to spread it :)

Summer morning

Sitting out on the deck this morning enjoying the view of my labors. Butterflies were visiting the coneflowers along with a little hummingbird.  I stood silent and still and doesn't the little guy come right up to me and buzz around my head. I should say thrummed around my head. It was absolutely amazing! I half thought he was going to land on me. My husband sitting nearby witnessed the whole thing.

The history in our woods

Stone wall that crosses the trail in
Willard Brook State Forest

A walk through the New England woods wouldn't be complete without coming across the ubiquitous stone walls that dot the landscape. Many forget that once upon a time, this land was cleared for agriculture. Pictured here is a stone wall that crosses the Blue Trail of Willard Brook State Park which parallels Route 119. In fact the developers of the trail obviously removed some stones from the wall to allow the trail to pass through it. At some time in the past someone moved all these rocks into place as they attempted to clear the land in order to cultivate it. I imagine just small plots of vegetables, but this land may have been great for grazing of cattle or sheep with the brook being a prime source for watering. Otherwise it is very hilly and enormous boulders, left by the ancient glacier that once covered this land, dot it. Eventually the call to move West for easier farming or to the work in the city mills resulted in abandoned farms. Now the woods have reclaimed the land leaving us with only markers of the hard labor of those who worked the land before us.