Franky Boy Can't Swim.......or What I Observed in 2013

In the hope of having learned something over the last year, I decided to challenge myself to make a list of things that were new to me, or perhaps just surprising reminders of things I already knew. Here is the list, in no particular order:

1) Get used to drought conditions, and it will start raining. Get used to warm conditions, and you'll freeze your ______ off come winter.

2) Sometimes more plants die from too much water than from not enough. Witness -
Platycladus orientalis 'Franky Boy'.

Platycladus orientalis 'Franky Boy'

He was planted in a lower area for the past three years, and seemed to be happy with a little extra moisture in that spot. After one rainy spring into summer, 'Franky Boy' seems to have drowned in that same spot.

3) You should always tell the truth. You just don't have to tell it so loud.

4) There are advantages and disadvantages in agreeing to be on an industry garden tour. The tour deadline is a good way to get things done, although much sleep is sacrificed as a result. The best part is getting to meet and talk with some icons in the world of horticulture.

With Martin van der Giessen, Margie Jenkins, 

Brie Arthur, and Barry Yinger

I'll take that deal every time.


5) The more you do, the more you can do. The more you think you can't get it all done, the more you can't.

 6) A good employee is worth his weight in gold. (wait a minute, make that MY weight in gold....he's pretty skinny) I sure will miss that boy.

Adam Autry and the bench in the boulder garden

7) Get rid of the negative.

8) Even though you don't have time, get away. See a garden, visit a nursery, catch up with an old friend, take a hike, read a book. They say that when you are standing just outside the Pearly Gates, you never once wish you had stayed later at work. I think they are right.

My best friend Joe

9) Marrying your best friend is ALWAYS the right decision.

10) Your kids are always your kids, and that can make for some very whiny late afternoons. But just put them in the virtual bathtub for an hour or two and you'll see what lovely, smart, and accomplished young ladies they've turned out to be. As one of my very wise friends says, (they are) "what regulates our temperatures"....

11) When deciding what plants to grow for the next year just remember.....they only really want the ones you are sold out of.

12) Don't give up. Just take a break.

13) Pruning is the most important job in the nursery. Too bad I always run out of time before I get to it. I am not talking about plant haircuts. I am talking about trying to uncover the art and elegance of each plant. I did a better job last year, and saw the benefits. I'll be cooking up that extra time I need along with the other dishes for Thanksgiving dinner.

14) Grafting season is coming up. From the look of my list, I sure hope I'll be living another 50-60 years. But just in case I'm not, it's still better to look forward than back.

15) The love of plants can be contagious, and there is nothing more fun than watching someone "catch" that condition. I have happily counted several customers among the newly afflicted, and believe that I served as the vector. I'll be making an effort to spread the passion in the new year.

Accidental Potatoes

“Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

 Mary Oliver

 Now that it has turned cold, it was time to spend a little effort on cleaning up my summer vegetable garden beds. Gray watery tomato vines were sprawled out and over the edges of my raised beds. Full unpicked peppers hung limp on ghostly stems. Bleached leaves of broccoli and brussel sprouts showed that they were no match for 25 degrees. So I started pulling things out. The summer vegetables came out easily. Some dried out vines hung on like they had anchors. In fact, they did.

After rooting around in the soil, I came out with roots.....and their attached potatoes. I had forgotten all about them. That is, forgotten them this summer after they came up as volunteers from last spring's incomplete harvest. I quickly mobilized to find other forgotten treasures. By the time I had exhausted myself, I had filled a 7 gallon bucket full of large red skinned potatoes. I proudly washed and dried and presented the bounty to my very impressed husband.

But something about the whole episode is nagging at me. I spend much of my time trying as hard as I can to make things grow. I read. I listen. I talk. I try one recipe after another to make it work, sometimes with success and sometimes with failure. I like the puzzle, and enjoy putting the pieces together to reveal the picture. It makes me feel empowered, like the magician who knows the secret to the trick. Yet this surprise yield thrilled me as much as any other planned crop. This potato harvest had been completely independent of anything I had done, apart from the original planting and the deficient gathering.

Ok.....let's get real here.Who am I kidding? My place here in this big old universe is very special. I am lucky enough to be like the little kid standing on the stool watching Mom cook, or Dad at his workbench. I get to lean up against Mother Nature, and if I am very quiet, and if I pay very close attention, maybe over time I'll learn how she does it. But make no mistake. It is happening with me or without me. Whatever work I am doing all day everyday is just tapping in to the ongoing beauty and brilliance of the cosmos; the essence of the force; the soul of the universe.

It is at once humbling, and exhilarating. It is a revelation that recurs to me in these tiny moments, and yet it is always new. Forgive me if I repeat myself. I just had to tell you.