Saturday, 6 March 2021
I cannot make myself go outside today except to open the greenhouses. My excuses are that, while the sun is out, the wind is cold and strong, with double wind warning flags flying at the port. And I heard a wee sprinkle of rain (but then the sun came out again) and maybe I feel lethargic from the Covid jab and the lingering effects of a powerful “double strength” antibiotic (not to mention I was direly warned to stay out of the sun while taking it). A friend says maybe it’s just age! Maybe it’s good to rest. Yet I get a sensation of panic that spring is slipping away and I have so much to do, most especially sifting compost to fill the two half empty fish totes. I have to remind myself we no longer have the weeding of the beach approach or other Long Beach tasks hanging over us and it is only March 6 and it is not a crime to spend a non-rainy day indoors.
Reading: Fearless Gardening by Loree Bohl
On February 25th, I began to read the new book by the creator of the Danger Garden blog. Work and good (non-reading) weather then intervened, followed by a health scare (almost over now) which had me turn to gardening videos because they shut my doom-laden thoughts off better than reading. I returned to the second half of the excellent book on March 4, surprised that so much time had slipped away.
The book itself was carefully designed with showy, colorful page edges.
Because it was a brand new library copy, I handled it with great care and didn’t have Cats on Lap.
Here are my favorite takeaways. (First, you might want to revisit the garden with me to feast your eyes on Loree’s spiky horticultural style circa 2014.)
The book is sprinkled with well-chosen quotations.
I like that Loree collects quotations and that she quoted Luvvie, whom I admire.
I pondered the words of Michael McCoy in the beginning of a paragraph quoted by Loree: “Given the fact that the most spectacular gardeners are the ones that fail most spectacularly, it’s really critical to get over your fear of failure.” At first, I thought, Well, I had no fear of failure in my three main personal gardens, my grandmother’s garden in which I wrought some changes once it became mine, my shady garden behind the boatyard, or my garden now. I then remembered the constant fear of failure in public gardening, where, as a public gardener said in a lecture that I attended, all your failures are on public view. I also remembered that I feel anxious (fearful?) when big city plantspeople come to my garden, that they will go away and make fun of it among themselves for not being cutting edge enough. Or too twee. Why do I care when it is just as I like it?
When I read this…
….I was reminded of these words, which I think Loree would appreciate.
People go through five stages of gardening. They begin by liking flowers, progress to flowering shrubs, then autumn foliage and berries; next they go for leaves, and then the undersides of leaves. -The Duchess of Devonshire
I must continue to maunder on about how things from the book started trains of thoughts about my past experiences. This, about a neighbor’s reaction when Loree first planted her front garden with small plants…
….reminded me of when I planted a small garden for a tiny restaurant in Seaview. The restaurant owner looked aghast at the small perennials that we planted in April and paid us grimly and did not speak to us when she saw us in the grocery store….until that same July when the garden was gloriously spilling over with the floriferousness she had asked for…and then she became warm and friendly again and said “Now I understand!” ….and asked us to plant up two more areas.
When I read that Loree admired the look of Corten strip edging in gardens, “custom fabricated….with bonded corners” and yet “I wasn’t sure where to get such a thing made and was pretty sure it wasn’t in my budget anyway”, I felt a wash of relief. I always feel stupid when I go on garden tours and see things like Little and Lewis inspired water features (or actual Little and Lewis water features) and gorgeous Corten steel low garden walls and have no idea how one would create or acquire such a thing. (I read somewhere that low metal edging without a smooth top can seriously injure dog paws, so keep that in mind. Maybe cat paws, too.)
I had forgotten about the perfect garden design word, “cramscaping”. And when I read this….
….I was reminded of when I cared for a garden at a local business. I “cramscaped” the two main garden beds full of choice plant divisions from my garden, including plants not seen much around here at the time, and the then-manager and staff loved it and took their lunches near the garden. (Pollinators had lunch there, too.) But a new manager came into power and said he did not want any plants to touch. “I’m not the one for the job,” I said, and wouldn’t try to do it his way when he asked me to just try, but instead passed it on to a friend…who later quit when he was told to remove a perfectly good plant in full bloom because it was too big or maybe dared to touch another plant.
Here is another great quotation collected by Loree, who wanted to send Monty Don a thank you note for saying “Half of gardening is just grown-ups going out to play.” I also remember laughing with delight when he said that.
She writes of growing bougainvillea as an annual in her Portland garden. I’m reminded that I grew up with one, in love with its pink papery blooms in my grandmother’s heated greenhouse, back when electricity was cheap. It was a sad day when she had to let it go because the cost of electricity rose so much. I could have sworn I had a photo of it, but the picture is just in my mind.
I loved reading that Robert of Felony Flats Garden got the Sunset Western Garden book from his grandmother. I still have the battered, well-thumbed spiral-bound copy that belonged to my grandmother, as well as all her old garden newspaper and magazine clippings that were inserted in the pages.
I’ve mentally swiped several planter ideas from Loree’s book. I won’t share them here; you’ll need to read her book for that, although later I will give credit if I implement any. Must find a rusty ….thing….and a big old funnel….and some skull beads.
Oh, my gosh, this isn’t even a British book and it mentions grit.
Around these parts, the only grit is turkey grit, small and glaringly white. We certainly can’t get the beautiful small amber-coloured stones that we see on British shows. Nor can we get small washed gravel. Loree, what do you use for grit? (I remember attending a workshop at Joy Creek Nursery, where they use 1/4-10 washed gravel in the garden. I wish I had a cubic yard of it, or more.)
A story about the “Felony Flats” garden being divided between the two gardeners made me smile…
….as I realized that probably most of what I like could be classified as “old lady plants”.
I (probably) couldn’t grow (well) at home most of what Loree grows because my garden has such a high water table and such cool summers, and I can’t grow spiky plants in well-drained public gardens around here because, especially in Long Beach, such plants are forbidden. The original guidelines for the city planters said no plants with thorns (or any poky bits), which didn’t stop volunteers from planting ginormous roses, phormiums and barberries in the planters, probably in an attempt to keep people from sitting in them. I almost planted some hardy cactus in containers for a western theme at The Red Barn until I envisioned a horse or dog’s soft nose making contact.
As you will see in Loree’s book, in more sophisticated city public gardens, spikes are celebrated and people and dogs are, I suppose, expected to behave themselves and stay out of the gardens. Fearless Gardening abounds with gorgeous examples, with most of the photographs taken Loree herself, making it even more of tour de force of creativity. I especially enjoyed the tours of gardens public and private that conclude the book.
One of several pieces of advice from Felony Flats: “Don’t be afraid to let the household chores slide during gardening season; that’s what winter is for.” (Unfortunately for the household chores, my winter is for reading and watching garden videos.)
Of course, I added some plants to my growing (and maddeningly unavailable here) acquisition list, and I’ve already shot my mail order budget for the year. My favorite Loree Bohl quotation:
“The only fear that should exist in gardening is, Is there enough money in my bank account?”
Among my new Plants of Desire: Eryngium proteiflorum, whose photo looks similar to Eryngium giganteum which I am having such a hard time growing; Passiflora ‘Sunburst’, which might prove hardy here; Accra sellowiana (pineapple guava). I want and have tried plants like Trachycarpus fortunei, a palm with gorgeous leaves that might do well in my sheltered garden, and Musa basjoo, the truly hardy banana, and tall echiums, with no success, maybe because we mostly lack summer heat. Loree’s book inspires me to fearlessly try again (if I can get my hands on such plants this or next year).
I was interested to learn that Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’ is the true name of ‘Black Lace’ elderberry. Seems Black Lace is one of those trademark names. What a pleasure it was to read a book heavy on plant recommendation and identification after the Julie Moir Messervy design books, which I mostly enjoyed but which tend to recommend what I think are bad plants, and even to misidentify plants, and to only use the sometimes interchangeable common names.
No matter what your gardening style, I think Fearless Gardening would inspire you, too. It is available right here.
Tangly Cottage Gardening 