I wish you a thundercloud

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June 19, 1937

Dear Cedric,

A strange thing happened to me today. I saw a big thundercloud move down over Half Dome, and it was so big and clear and brilliant that it made me see many things that were drifting around inside of me; things that related to those who are loved and those who are real friends. For the first time I know what love is; what friends are; and what art should be. Love is a seeking for a way of life; the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things. Children are not only of flesh and blood — children may be ideas, thoughts, emotions. The person of the one who is loved is a form composed of a myriad mirrors reflecting and illuminating the powers and thoughts and the emotions that are within you, and flashing another kind of light from within. No words or deeds may encompass it. Friendship is another form of love — more passive perhaps, but full of the transmitting and acceptance of things like thunderclouds and grass and the clean granite of reality. Art is both love and friendship, and understanding; the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of Things, it is more than kindness which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is the recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the inter-relations of these. I wish the thundercloud had moved up over Tahoe and let loose on you; I could wish you nothing finer. Ansel (Adams)

Things I am diggin’ in April. Besides the garden.

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I truly think the internet will end up being named/classified as the eighth wonder of the world. It has certainly expanded my horizons. Here are some of the cool things places I go w/out leaving my desk:

Bumblebees of North America: great for id’g the little bombers. I was able to identify bombus flavifrons flavifrons as the fat little guy partying around the front flower beds yesterday. He was so distinctively marked w/his double  orange stripe.

My friend Robin, a/k/a, BumbleBee, and others turned me onto this site, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and some years I do the backyard feeder  project with them.

Gardening friend Gail  of Clay and Limestone set me up with these folks last year: Pollinator Partnership. OH, the information you will find!!

That ought to keep you busy for awhile. Let me know what other cool sites YOU love.

 

 

Teaching Creating Beautiful Garden Tapestries @ Gail Severn Art Gallery in Ketchum

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On the road again…………

I’m headed to Ketchum on Thursday to teach a class on behalf of the Sawtooth Botanical Garden. I don’t know about Ketchum/Hailey/Bellevue/Sun Valley, but last week in McCall we had precisely 26 inches of snow in the back yard. HooBoy. For garden geeks, that’s when you MOST need a shot in the arm to perk yourself up. So, a gardening class it is!

I am positively delighted I’ve been invited to give the presentation at the exquisite Gail Severn Art Gallery. Wow! Such an elegant venue, I am honored! And I intend to get there early to take in the wonderful art. It’s an inspirational setting.

SPEAKER SERIES PRESENTS: CREATING BEAUTIFUL GARDEN TAPESTRIES. 6:00pm $20M $25NM

Colorful threads that weave a garden together. Join MaryAnn
Newcomer, author of The Rocky Mountain Gardener’s
Guide, for this special presentation at Gail Severn Gallery.

I hope to see you there.

Teaching and Preaching (to the choir)

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Had a funny conversation today with a friend of mine: “Trish? Got any great wooden wine boxes I can beg, borrow or steal from you?”

Trish: “I’ve got one or two, what do you need them for?”

Me: “Making Fairy gardens tomorrow night at Far West?”

Trish: “WWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAAAAAAAAAAAAT? I did NOT see that anywhere, and I STALK you!”

So, Trish scared up three boxes and I made a spot for her in the class. Right next to me. Where I can keep an eye on this wine selling-Harley-riding-fairy-garden-terrarium- garden- making wild child. Photos to follow.

So ya know: Fairy Garden Workshop at 6 pm, at FarWest Nursery and Landscape, Boise ID. 5728 State Street. Class is free. Little pretties: lights, swing sets/bistro sets, etc available to purchase during the class. Bring what you have and we will have a great time!

Creating a Garden Tapestry: Plant identification and photos from the class

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Thanks again for such an incredibly warm welcome and kind comments from my day of presenting in Ft. Collins, at the High Plains Workshop. What a great crowd. And a crowd of gardeners!

I am late getting to this, but here are the main photos from the Creating a Garden Tapestry presentation, with the plants identified below the photos. If you don’t see something here, that you were looking for, please send me a note so I can keep looking and get you the information you need.

Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mountain penstemon) and California Poppy

Shasta Daisy 'Aglaia and unidentified yellow daylily

Coreopsis 'Moonbeam', achillea or yarrow 'Cornation Gold' , and I believe, there are a few blossoms of the tall evening primrose oenothera hookeri.

 

Achillea 'Apricot Delight' with Veronica spicata 'Red Fox

Digitalis ferruginea or Rusty Foxglove

Gomphrena 'Fireworks' and pink zinnia

Abundant Earth Gardens: the Speaker Series

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http://abundantearthgardens.com/speakerseries/

Yup, I’m over there, too! ON April 24th. Click on over to the Abundant Earth site, scroll down to April 24th, and get yourself signed up!

See you then if not before!

March 23, 1: 30 pm at the Boise Grove, Convention Center, Creating Beautiful Garden Tapestries

April 5th, at the gorgeous Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum, ID, for the Sawtooth Botanical Garden, Creating Beautiful Garden Tapestries

April 14th, Bozeman MT, The Bozeman Garden Show! Creating Heirloom Gardens and Garden Tapestries, both! Shazam!

April 24th, teleconference: Speaker Series, see above linkie poo.

Fruit of the Loom.

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Or, what’s looming in my future.

Black Gilliflower. Ashmead’s Kernel. Spitzenberg. Coming to my door. Tomorrow. YESYESYES!

From Trees of Antiquity’s catalogue/description:

An old English russet apple, medium size, golden-brown skin with a crisp nutty snap. Fruit explodes with champagne-sherbet juice infused with a lingering scent of orange blossom. Flesh is dense, sugary and aromatic with intense flavor, characteristic of russets. The Ashmead’s Kernel is a winner of taste tests and displays some resistance to scab and cedar apple rust.

Bloom: Midseason
USDA Zone: 5,6,7,8,9
Pollination: Required
Fruit Storage: Excellent
Mature Size: Large
Ripens: Late
Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert, baking, juice/hard cider
Rootstock: Semidwarf
Size when shipped: 5/8 to 3/4 inch caliper (width around trunk)
Height prior to shipment: 6 ft.(trimmed to 5′when shipped)
Shape when shipped : Feathered (prominent side branching) and Whips (no branching)

And then there’s Black Gilliflower. Who knew you could describe an apple as “hangs well on a tree.” Huh? So do monkeys. But who cares. I can’t even remember WHY I ordered this, maybe the name spoke to me. Maybe I need something to hang well.

Large, conical ribbed apple becoming almost dark purple. Distinctive flavor, reminiscent of Spitzenburg, rich and sweet, with a relatively dry flesh. Hangs well on tree.

Bloom: Late
USDA Zone: 6,7,8,9
Pollination: Required
Fruit Storage: Good
Mature Size: Medium
Ripens: Very Late
Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert, cooking (puree, applesauce, apple butter)
Rootstock: Semidwarf
Size when shipped : 5/8 inch caliper (width around trunk)
Height prior to shipment: 5 ft
Shape when shipped: Feathered (prominent side branching)

Oh yes yes yes. And you probably know about Spitz. More tomorrow.