Stories About Gardening
Pandemic Distraction — Wandering In the Nursery Fields on Sunday Morning
Standing barefoot in the field trying to click. The slick phone screen can’t feel my fingers through potting soil and worm parts.
Read MoreGhost in the Crinum Field —- A Massive Bulb Stimulates Weird Thoughts While the Garden Crew Works
I see things nobody else does. Snapshots, little fictional scenarios flash through my head. Does that happen to you? Today when we were digging the biggest of big bulbs, Crinum ‘Fiesta’, it happened. Leaning on shovels next to me, two nice fella’s who I thought would never have a black thought like the one I pushed…
Read MoreCountry-style Cut Flowers — What? You’ve Never Heard of Chicken Feet Flowers?
A cut flower stem that last for weeks without water.
Read More25 Years Ago Riverbanks Botanical Garden Opened — I Was Mad in the Photo!
Which mean 27 years ago, I left my adopted home of Seattle to move back to Columbia, South Carolina. It was culture shock to be sure! Columbia was still pretty much a small town with a lot of Bible Belt ways. An amazing group of people established a vision, political support to establish a new…
Read MoreStone Cold
I sat down at the bar at Hunter Gather alone. It’s warm and dark, the kind of place strangers talk. A few other farmers, craftsmen, tradesmen types were always there at 4 p.m. One time I was telling some guy a story. I’d explained how my farm is an hour out of town and that…
Read MoreSouthern Peat Bogs, Old Men and A New Farm Ethic
Sitting in a rocking chair, a tiny plate of deviled eggs in his football player lap, I guessed he was about 75. He was almost a stranger yet immediately familiar. He had my father’s brogue, my uncle’s nose, and this family’s skills of storytelling, “Did you know Daddy used to run a peat company down…
Read MoreHolding Our Breath…..A Tree of Winter Flowers
Fat buds of Prunus mume wait for the warmer days of winter. Starting around the turn of the year, I eagerly wait for both buds and warmth. Every cold gray day the bulging buds stand out, puffed up like they’re holding their breath along with me. We’re all waiting. Then one lovely day the sun…
Read MoreShadow & Light in The Garden
She made a point of coming by the garden twice a year to see what the old man loved. She smiles at our secret jargon, Ben and I used only Latin names. No questions, no suspicion just eyes that said, I’m happy ‘cause yall are happy.
Read MoreThe Crinum of Downton Abbey
Victorian Britain was the epicenter of fashion, trends, politics, and horticulture. Natural history and plants were serious studies, serious hobbies for the rich. Sailors, explorers, and traders brought plants from all over the world to tempt rich collectors. An abundant supply of coal meant hot-houses and conservatories allowed for tropical plant gardening. Those collectors who…
Read MoreThe Greatest Show
Silver-haired and with a brand new knee, Momma peers into a draped diorama of shrunken heads, leaning in to listen to a much pierced young man, with gauge opening in his ears big enough you could pass a cupcake through, a handlebar mustache, and a Baltimore accent — which is oddly akin to our own. …
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