Posts by Jenks Farmer
Great Dixter Was the Bait
The lectures by Great Dixter gardener were colorful and almost sales-force energetic but the real fun of Grower Great Gardeners symposium was the concentration of cool people. My two favorite conversations of the day are below. For all the successes of this fundraiser (for Spartanburg Community College in SC and Great Dixter Garden in southern…
Read MoreSeeds Are Still Free — At the Moment
My donkey and I have been doing this week what men and donkeys have been doing for millennia. We’ve been planting seeds. In doing that, we carry on our backs (ok that’s an exaggeration and the pic is set up) one of the basic freedoms, the truths, rights and pillars of all civilization. That’s not…
Read MoreTithonia – An Old Fashion Flower You Only Buy Once
Henry Mitchell wrote about Tithonia; you can’t really see the flowers in the summer because it gets so tall but after autumn rains, after a hurricane wind, it falls over, lays on the ground and you can finally enjoy the flowers. I love him. Tithonia, in the picture below, seeds itself in every year, grows…
Read MoreDeep Rooted in a Tiny New Orleans Garden
It’s probably true for something you do in your life, some hobby or task: little things, intricate things take more time to plan and are harder to get right than big things. In planning little gardens, every piece has to fit perfectly. Nature’s complexity is less forgiving and more visible in miniature. A plant that…
Read MoreTerrace Fountain Doubles as a Table
It felt great to build a little fountain for his 12th floor terrace. He loves to garden but up there, floor space is for plants, two chairs and a small table. Walls can’t be pierced. Fountains are a challenge. I had to step way outside of my normal range of activities for this…
Read MoreHigh & Low; What Are the Components of a Joyful Garden Scene?
We made a giant seesaw in front of the chicken pen; the three neighbor children and I. From under the barn and in junk piles, we gathered stuff like a quarter of a creosote power pole, galvanized pipes and boards. That took weeks; it wasn’t a very focused effort. As we found one part, we’d…
Read MoreA Frank Conversation About Sustainability
If you still question whether people can change the earth and climate, then become a gardener. You’ll find out how quickly you can screw up a living system and how long it takes to put it back right. I love any book that stimulates me to think and write and question. I love this…
Read MoreBonding, Gardening, Literature & Turtles
When we were younger, Andy and I bonded over a project inspired by a mule-drawn plow and the death of an old man. An inspiring old man: a visionary, a looking-to-the-future old man who’d used and loved old farm tools. He’d done well, lived well, and raised a family, who had hired us young guys…
Read MoreNo Longer a Tool of My Tool
It wasn’t sitting well with me, getting paid to write and blog by a huge chemical company. I rationalized it for a while. Basically, I needed the money. But I’m no longer blogging for PlantersPlace.com (which is owned and run by Scotts) It’s tough to get paid to write blog; there just are not many…
Read MoreTime to Cut Back
Good god at the weeds. In my city garden, I compromised; broke down and used some chemicals. But on the lily farm, for two years now, the crinum lily fields have been organic. I just can’t taint the purity of my lilies. Really, I can’t stand the thought of the toxins settling in the dirt,…
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