NOW I STAND before gardens and nature's wild placwes as I did as a seven-year-old facing my elementary school teachers. They seemed to know everything. I knew very little.
Over the years, I absorbed most of what was in the syllabus. But though I've spent a lifetime gardening and marveling at the diversity and inventiveness of the vegetative world, I sense that its vast treasure house of knowledge remains mostly closed to me and its deepest meanings still whiz quickly over my head. And so, in this last installment of this 2022 series of columns on what I've learned about myself from the world of nature, I'm going to try to catch a whizzing deep meaning. Follow along, and see if you agree.
First, when I was a very young child of about four, the plants in our neighborhood's Victory Garden lit up that primal sense of taste. Mr. Gibbs's strawberry patch had several rows, each about 25 feet long. With a couple of my cohorts from our street I would lay down in the rows and do the low crawl along their length, cramming ourselves full of berries as we went. What a revelation of flavor they were: sun-warmed, wonderfully sweet, rich in that scented strawberry flavor. It all went well until Mr. Gibbs spied a tousled head or short-pantsed backside sticking up and then he'd tear out of his house in a fury. We'd screech and run back through the foundation plantings of our suburban houses to safety.
Bu hikaye Horticulture dergisinin November - December 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Horticulture dergisinin November - December 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Pot It Up
Shake up the containergarden with theseNorth America –native perennials
THE GARDEN PATH TO PERDITION
I WAS CRUISING RIGHT ALONG, feeling okay about myself, when I came across a list of the Seven Deadly Sins.
A Productive PATIO
Tiny fruit, vegetable and herb plants help gardeners maximize any sort of growing space
TROPICAL FUSION
A FUSS-FREE APPROACH TO USING BOLD TROPICAL PLANTS IN ANY TEMPERATE GARDEN
WINTER READING
Pass the time with any of these inspiring books
SENSING A PATTERN
Greg Coppa reflects on an odd weather year and what continued warming may mean for his Rhode Island garden
TOP-PRIZE PERENNIALS
A foliage masterpiece for shade and a late bloomer for sun
MARK WESSEL
What's new for fruit and vegetable gardeners?
KINGS OF THE NORTHERN FORESTS
A look at the trees, shrubs and perennial plants that bolster life in Ecoregion 5
PROJECT FEEDERWATCH
Gardeners can help scientists know just where the birds are in winter