To Garden Honestly

Posted by on
From "Minnesota" 1980 by Joan Mitchell The call to action appeared in my inbox: “are we gardening while the world burns?” Yes, I got the easy reference to Nero, Rome and all that, which is, historically, a fairly complicated story in itself. And yes, ornamental—as distinguished from food—gardening, could be considered an oblivious, even oppressive activity, especially if conducted with plenty of staff in the pursuit of displaying wealth using plants and techniques that harm ecosystems. But rebelliousness rose in me. As a serious modern gardener, I wondered, does this person not understand where gardening is situated in the history of our species and how it can be used to make a fierce statement about possible futures? And I’m not talking about utopian ideas of getting back to the Garden of Eden, either. Nettled, I did look around the internet and found that the phrase seems to have come from an essay in which the write ultimately decided gardening to be akin to other creative...
0

Native Gardens through the Seasons: A Virtual Walk

Posted by on

In-person garden walks, as wonderful as they can be, only offer a "snapshot" of a garden on one day in a particular season, usually summer.  Missing are the daily and weekly changes that make up so much of a native plant garden's place-specific beauty.

The annual West Cook Wild Ones/Interfaith Green Network garden walk has traditionally been held in early August. When the pandemic forced cancellation, we decided to go virtual. This enabled three experienced native plant gardeners to show how our gardens grow and bloom over time, from the freshest spring ephemerals to the asters and goldenrods of early fall, and everything in between. I was thrilled to be on the same program as West Cook Wild Ones president Stephanie Walquist and board member Candace Blank.

This might be a perfect time to "visit" our gardens, while dreaming about spring and planning your own. You'll find it here.

Location: Oak Park, IL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment