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At one point, I suggested I might start a list of books gardeners might like. I’ve found a book worthy to add to that list in There is a Season by Patrick Lane – a beautiful, moving, and sometimes disturbing book. Part memoir, part naturalist’s notebook, part love letter to a garden, There is a Season is a must-read for gardening bookworms.
Lane hails from my corner of the globe, and in fact, he taught the poetry writing class I took during my first year at UVic. He terrified me at the time – physically intimidating, opinionated, fierce – he was alternately growly and quiet, and wrote poems of despair and sadness. The one that stands out in my mind, for obvious reasons, was about witnessing a Tijuana back-alley stage show during which a woman and a mule had sex. Talk about impressing 18-year-olds!
Anyway, it turns out that he was, at that time and for the 25 years previous, an alcoholic and cocaine addict. In 2000, he went into rehab and, in the first month of the new century, returned to his beloved garden, shaky but alive. It was then that he started writing There is a Season:
“In his memoir, Patrick Lane takes readers on the roller-coaster ride of his first alcohol-free year, expertly weaving memories of his hard early life in the interior of British Columbia with wondrous descriptions of the activity in his garden – his own and the lives of the plants, animals, and insects that also inhabit it. Lane has gardened for as long as he can remember, and his garden’s life has become inseparable from his own. A new bloom on a plant, a skirmish among the birds, the way a tree bends in the wind, and the slow, measured change of seasons, invariably bring to his mind an episode from his eventful past.” – McClelland & Stewart
Here is an excerpt:
Grasses, their stalks flattened and flung by the winter snow, lay like fallen hair upon the earth, and their new green spears caught the wind with frail hands. A mountain meadow and a boy in the long-ago of the last century. Did I know then it was a garden I looked out upon? Had I been asked I would not have understood the question. Garden? Wilderness? I gave the meadow no thought. Had someone asked me if what I saw was beautiful I would not have known what he meant. A boy is a boy and he is the place he inhabits. He is what surrounds him and the boy I was remains with me in the image of yellow lilies and creamy anemones among the grasses and scattered stones.
The book has been selected for One Book, One Vancouver, our citywide book club. It is available here.
Who loves moss? I do! I do!
I recently received an email with this question in response to my post about moss graffiti:
I’ve just finished paving our patio with reclaimed bricks and am eager to have moss growing there, but my husband is afraid that the buttermilk mixture will attract ants. Any advice?
~Mary
I didn’t have a problem with ants when I tried this, but I’d love to throw it out there to Heavy Petal readers. Has anyone found that ants or other critters are attracted to the buttermilk in moss starters? It’s probably a good time of year to do this, Mary, as it’s not really prime ant season. I do wonder, however, if you really want to grow moss on a reclaimed brick patio. Wouldn’t that be a recipe for a broken limb? Sounds mighty slippery to me!
I stumbled upon Greener Grass Design today, and while it’s not strictly garden-related, the Houston-based design and decor site carries lines by some fabulous designers.
I love the idea behind this Shadylace Parasol by Chris Kabel for Droog Design. It’s a waterproof lace parasol with a leaf motif, casting shadows of branches and leaves. In green or white.
The Carl Mertens tabletop fireplace consists of two stainless steel oil lamps anchored to a slate base. So hot.
And the Nananu chair by David Trubridge, made of untreated steam-bent ash and hoop pine ply – stunning.
Much more online, including wicked pet and baby stuff.
I apologize for my site being unavailable this morning. I’m still unable to post photos so I’ll save Part 2 of yesterday’s “do” for later – hopefully tomorrow at the latest. Again, apologies, and thanks for reading!
UPDATE: WTF? I don’t know what’s up with my site right now. Grr.
You’ve heard it time and time again: mass your plantings. “Plant in groups of three, five, seven, or more,” the advice goes. And: “a garden full of one of this and one of that looks junky.” But come on, isn’t a picture worth a thousand words? I had to stop and take a photo of this windowbox belonging to Hobbs, a flower and gift shop in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood. It’s just so lovely.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen coleus used as a leading lady. Sometimes it inadvertantly steals the scene, but usually it’s included as a supporting actor to something flowering. I just love the combination here with the chartreuse and black Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato vines).
It seems that autumn is particularly adept at this “do.” I’ll show you another example tomorrow. Til then, what are your favourite autumn plants for mass plantings?
You absolutely must watch this video of two slugs mating. I’m telling you, it will give you a new appreciation for the critters that eat your hostas.
Via We’re Not Wired Right.
Yay, me!
Well, I did it. I completed the UBC Garden Design program. Actually, the final course finished a week before the wedding, but the graduation ceremony and Open House were held just this weekend. Regardless, I’m done, and I’m glad I did it.
When I started the program, I wasn’t sure what the end result would be. I still don’t know, for instance, whether I will end up being a full-time landscape designer. But I wanted to increase my knowledge, competency, and credibility as a garden writer, plus, I figured, it couldn’t be bad for my garden either.
Garden plans at the graduation and Open House.
I’m happy to say that I’ve already been asked to design two gardens – and this even before graduation! So we’ll see how those guinea pig gardens go, but I’m confident enough to announce, “Heavy Petal Landscape Design is open for business!”
Okay, so I’m a bit slow on the uptake with this product. Terracycle launched in the spring, and has been available locally for at least a couple months, and I just heard about it. I blame my distraction on wedding and school madness.
Terracycle’s product, which sounds to me like liquified worm castings, (or, as Terracycle likes to say, “worm poop”), might not be that innovative (at least in the organic gardening world where worm castings are de rigueur, but their packaging is: the organic fertilizer is packaged and sold in recycled soda bottles.
That’s right, the entire product is made out of garbage – from the contents to the packaging. As a result, TerraCycle “is the first mass-produced consumer product to have a negative environmental footprint.” Very cool.
Their products include an all-purpose plant food, African violet food, orchid food, Water-Less, and ProFusion. I’ve yet to try any Terracycle products, but I’ll keep you posted when the results are in.
I wish I had a farm, or at least a few acres to spread out on. I’d have chickens and goats and alpacas and at least a few dogs. But since I’m stuck with my 200 sq.ft. city garden, where the only critters are cats, neighbourhood children and the occasional skunk, I’m loving these Salvor Fauna animal pillows. So cute! And they won’t eat your roses or tear into your garbage.
Available in animals from dachshunds to tigers at Design Public.
Saturday, September 9 is the second annual World Naked Gardening Day, and man, I wish I could participate. It’s an event that’s right up my quirky little alley. Problem is, I don’t have much shade in my wee garden, and the sun and my skin don’t get along. Even with SPF 5900. So I’ll have to leave the naked gardening to hardier folks, but believe me, I’ll be cheering from the sidelines. I’d love to know if anyone in the garden blogosphere was brave enough to bare all!
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