On The Changing Of Seasons by Keith Rabin

Photo by Carol King

“ I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown. For in going out, I found I was really going in.”  (John Muir)

As we all “ Go In “ our own ways and harvest each our labors of the seasons,  I look for signs that connect me back to nature. For no greater gift is there for our health and happiness.

“ The richness I achieve comes form nature, The source of my inspiration.“(Claude Monet)

Finding inspiration in the changing of the season is in finding the poems left us without words. Gifted to us by the Creator in the color and textures only found in nature. It lifts our spirits, our hearts and through our senses and in our mind we find solace within. I call it the art of looking.

“ The poetry of earth is never dead.” (John Keats)

To learn of ourselves from the silence of a wilderness we achieve more knowledge of nature and self than by any spoken or written words. Take the time to find your own wilderness and embrace the teaching in its silence....

Eighteen Catalogs and Counting by Carol King

Rain and snow this evening. A few snow showers overnight. You might ask “ What to do I do on a day like this?” I think it is a grand day to look at seed and plant catalogs and dream about spring. I have received eighteen so far. That’s right eighteen: surely January is National Send Out Seed Catalogs month.

With the snow blowing all around, it is a wonderful time to look at pictures of children sitting on giant pumpkins, dahlias as big as a basketballs, roses with names like ”Summer of Love” and “Sweetness”, and all manner of vegetables and flowers promising a wonderful garden. However, one must certainly be careful when reading the text of these catalogs. Gardening in Colorado is not for the faint of heart and most of these catalogs are from companies in exotic places like Wisconsin, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; places that have actual rainfall and garden soil full of humus and natural compost. My experience tells me that certain words and phrases are to be watched out for. By paying attention to the descriptions, we can learn much about what truly is being said and whether a certain plant might have a chance here.

For instance, the phrase “plants are slow to emerge in spring” probably means you’ll forget you planted something in that spot and till it up. “Well draining soil is essential”; might not be a good choice for my clay garden. “Sends forth a heightened perfume; pungently scented”; better like the fragrance as this one will stink. “Patience is needed to germinate”, right; see the first phrase. Be very cautious when you see the word vigorous with any plant or seed as in “vigorous, self sows” or “spreads vigorously”, this will be all over the neighborhood within a couple of years. “Does best in acid soil”; means you’ll be making a weekly trip to Starbucks for coffee grounds if you are going to grow this one. “Best in moist conditions and humus rich soil”; yeah, right. “Can’t ship to: various states”; this one is on some state’s noxious weed list. “Prone to powdery mildew; water early in the day”; these will look horrible in August.

Read between the lines, dear gardener. Read between the lines!

And the 2012 Academy Award Winner is...by Elaine Lockey

http://www.parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.arn.page.html

Don’t you wish there was a category at the Academy Awards for best botanic movie? Most stunning landscape background?  Best use of a plant in a scene? Me too.  So since there isn’t, I went in search of a plant with star power that I think could shine in a future movie.

And so my selection for the winner of this year's award for most movie-worthy plant would be the Rafflesia arnoldii.  Its common name is Corpse Flower.  It also happens to have the world's largest flower.

Aconitum - A Plant with a Dark Side

“Even those who are pure of heart, and say their prayers at night, can become a wolf, when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” 

You might remember hearing that popular rhyme while watching the old werewolf movie “The Wolfman”.  Wolfsbane, also known as monkshood, is a member of the Aconitum genus of over 250 plants.  Aconitum species are popular and attractive ornamental perennials that enjoy shady moist garden sites, but beware, they are also considered some of the deadliest plants in the world.

The myths and fear surrounding Aconitum are based on real-life danger.  Every part of the plant is poisonous especially the leaves, roots and seeds. The principal alkaloids are aconite and aconitine.  Aconitine is thought to be the main toxin causing severe gastrointestinal upset, followed by cardiac symptoms and eventually death if enough has been taken in. 

The Joys of the Common Colorado High Country Gardener by Nancy R White

The summer gardening season is winding down.  As each year passes, I find that I learn new things and once again this year is no exception.

Elk Damage on Viburnum

 Living up in elevation at about 7,000 ft. makes gardening a challenge.  One of the biggest challenges is the wildlife that I love to see when I am hiking, but have gotten a bit frustrated with in my own yard.  When I got home from a short trip to the mountains recently, I found that some animal had eaten half of the leaves off of my small Black Haw Viburnum Tree right by my front door!  My husband said that a large male elk had been hanging around.  I wish I had seen the majestic creature!  I have learned to share in order to enjoy these beautiful creatures in my neighborhood, but I sure hope my tree will live.

“Distract-itis” by Gardener Dave

“Distract-itis”

When doing our day-to-day gardening chores,
other needs often “jump up and bite us”
They keep us from making our normal rounds
and give us “distract-itis”

How many times on your morning “rounds”
to check beds for weeds and for water,
have you seen the signs of other needs
that you “must do”, or certainly “oughter”?

Most of these days I don’t even get
to those chores I first wanted to do,
for this bed chokes out a “Weed me first!”,
and that one nags “Aphids to shoo!”

This can go on, all through the whole day
and when the evening dark gathers,
I think of my list, and find that I’ve done
the “musts” and forgotten the “rathers”

Now I know this is a common “disease”
which plagues us, and makes us cuss
Most others agree - whatever their tasks -
big distractions are ever around us

So we must all sigh and just carry on,
and tend to those things that fight us
We all are victims of this “blight”
that I choose to call “distract-itis”

Cheers,
Gardener Dave

The Seed Cathedral by Elaine Lockey

photo by Heatherwick Studio

In case you missed it, art and horticulture combined for an amazing exhibit last year. Called the Seed Cathedral, the sculpture was composed of 60,000 fiber optic rods with seeds implanted on the tip of each one. The Seed Cathedral’s goal was to raise awareness of the global race to save seeds and the growing number of seed banks that safely preserve these seeds. Created for the 2010 World Expo held in Shanghai, it was designed by English designer Thomas Heatherwick. 

The structure was lit from within at dark and during the day the rods captured and funneled the sunlight highlighting the seeds within.  The structure also gently swayed in the breeze giving it life.  It was nicknamed pu gong ying or “The Dandelion” by Chinese visitors. How many seeds were in it? More than 217,000! Visitors could go inside it for a completely immersive experience. 

Bloggers' Dreams and Nightmares. Plant Hopes and Desires!

Taking our cue from a Denver Post article about their garden writers' desires for the garden season, here are some of our bloggers' dreams and nightmares! 

MARY SMALL

Plants I'll always plant:  Tomatoes because I enjoy making fresh salsa and blts with them; penstemons because there is such a variety, I find them easy to grow and they "go" with everything.

Plants I'm itching to try: Blueberries…in Colorado? 'nuff said.

Forget about it!  Chocolate flower.  My soil is builder's clay, poorly drained and poorly oxygenated.   I can meet the sun requirements, but it needs better drained soil than I can provide.

“Non compost mentis” by Gardener Dave

I don’t abhor most garden chores,
not even the raking of leaves
But there’s one thing I do not do
It’s one of my favorite peeves

Organic gardeners, throw your darts
and tell me I’m not being Green
But I just can’t save up everything
for a turning-barrel and screen

Some compost everything they have
including their table food scraps
But I will buy my compost “done”
from a nearby Nursery, perhaps

I won’t have to remember to turn it
and keep it’s temperature high…
not even remember to keep out things
which have pesticides that I apply

I’ll shun the “delight” of making my own
I’ll just buy some, and plant me a tree
I like to do many things that are Green
but composting is not one for me

Cheers,
Gardener Dave


Note: The title of my poem is not original with me (shame, shame!). One of those who beat me to it is the author Darrell Schweitzer, who wrote: Non compost mentis: “An affrontery of limericks and other eldritch metrical terrors” (sound interesting?). There are no doubt other aberrations of non compos mentis, but I’m too lazy to look them all up, and your interest is probably flagging anyway. :o)

Gnome- Gnapping? by Gardener Dave

A recent article in the Denver Post about kidnapped lawn gnomes prompted me to dabble a bit more into “Gnome Incidents” in other places and at other times.  Apparently they are popular – it’s almost a cult thing!   Stolen or not, they really are hot!  According to the Post article, one home in Arvada had nearly 150 gnomes stolen in late July of this year!  A couple of other links to gnome information and incidents are included below.

Hmmmmmm…  Scientists have done a lot of work sequencing the human genome – I wonder if anyone is working on the gnome genome?  It should be interesting – and strange!
Hey out there!  Do any of you bloggers have more “Gnome Capers” to share with us? 

www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-11-03-gnome_x.htm
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Gnome_Liberationists

Waiting for the (Real) Spring by Gardener Dave

Sometimes it takes so very long

for spring to come again

I check my tools and look outside

Will today bring snow or rain?

Dressing for Gardening Success by Carol King

Well, dear gardener, it is that time of the year.  You know, time to shop and purchase your gardening wardrobe for the 2010 gardening season.  I found this outfit in Vogue Magazine.  It just screams REAL gardener.  I'm heading out the door as I write!

Winter Garden Tour

Gardener Jerry has made a resolution to take more pictures of his garden. Please enjoy this tour of his winter garden.

Good Reads for Gardeners

Got that "garden withdrawl" feeling this winter? Feeling those "wish I could garden" blues? Try snuggling up with one of these good reads recommended by Jefferson County Master Gardener, Carol King. They would also make a great gift for a fellow gardener.

My House Has a Terrible Hangover! by Gardener Dave

During our last big weekend snow
my house went on a kind of spree
I looked up from my drive below
and RAN, before IT fell on me!

A monstrous load, a “gutter-bender”
I snapped one “pic” – then fear took over
“Move my car!  Don’t want crushed fender!”
My House Has a Terrible Hangover!

November weather has been wild
Record snow, then record warm
Acting like some mad, spoiled child
bent on doing folks some harm

Flooding, rain, more snow to plow
Monsoon storms in the Far East
“Normal” never happens now
Please! Can someone tame this beast?

Synchronicity and Pondering Garden Wisdom

This week, I have been experiencing what Jung calls "meaningful coincidence"  and began pondering the important differences we, as gardeners, can make in peoples lives.

One of the projects featured at our Master Gardener Appreciation breakfast was the children's garden at the Extension Office.  Heather Hodgin obtained a grant in 2008-09 to build the raised beds and this summer, Jeffco master gardeners worked with a local elementary school, and Home Depot employees to build and plant a  garden.  Mary Small shared several heart warming stories about the changes gardening made in these children's lives. One child began to write about flowers and another's drawings went from images of violence to images of plants.

Today, I  read a quote by Rachel Carson  "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder...he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it..." This is exactly what the gardeners did for the school children at the Extension garden.

And then this story  appeared about a group in Denver using gardening to unite generations.

We, dear gardeners, do so much more than grow stuff.

October’s Scary Themes by Gardener Dave

Here are three little Haikus to remind us
it’s Halloween time again.
Just in case you didn’t remember, ha!…

Toothy pumpkin grins
Ghosts and goblins everywhere
Halloween is here

Bedsheet ghosts abound
Kids in costumes on my porch
Trick or treaters rule!

Zombies beg for “brains”
Vampires search for toothsome necks
Chills run up my spine!

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A Chronological Conundrum by Gardener Dave

A task remains for me to do

It happens every fall

For with the weathers changing scene

comes Standard Time’s recall



My quandary is, my earnest friends,

(this gives my brain a trial)

that I don’t have “no” outside clocks,

just a big, round, bronze SUNDIAL

Musings of an Apprentice Master Gardener by Donna Duffy

There are a couple of things I need to admit right up front.  Before taking the CMG classes, I thought I knew a lot about gardening. My friends would ask me the name of plants, and most of the time, I could come up with a semi-accurate response. Now that I’m a Master Gardener (albeit apprentice), my friends ask me much harder questions. And I rarely know the answers. What I do know is how and where to find the answers, but why does that feel like cheating? When will I be able to rattle off a thoughtful, helpful, accurate answer like the real Master Gardeners? I think a better title for me would be “Master Gardener Wannabe Resource Specialist” – at least for now.

Before I took my Master Gardener courses, I would delight in a perfectly manicured perennial bed, well maintained lawn or lovely flowering vine. Now I find myself slamming on the brakes to ponder a semi-dead spruce or sick looking shrub, mesmerized by the 3 Ds: decay, disease, and death.

Although I love the way “cytospera canker” rolls off my tongue, I’m hopeless at identifying it in real life. When I look in the microscope in practice sessions, I get lost in the wonder of actually seeing the invisible – and completely forget the assignment. All that fuzz and color and puffy stuff makes me feel like I’ve been transported from the world of giants into a secret fairy realm.

In my own yard, I try to practice applying all the knowledge I’ve been exposed to, but often end up a bit confused. For example: after examining the “annual wrinkles” on several branches of my maple tree, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s somewhere between 2 and 19 years old. Maybe next year, with more practice, I’ll be able to narrow that gap.

And bugs! Who knew? Thanks to Whitney, I now feel nothing but anguish for the wimpy little aphid that can’t even muster the strength to climb back onto a plant after being washed off. I envision my soil as a ruckus underworld – a mini Sturgis of sorts – where tiny organisms strut their stuff, behave wildly, and overindulge on rotten matter and wet aphids. I can almost hear them hooting and hollering.

 Maybe over the winter I’ll have time to broaden my knowledge and increase my retention. For now, I’ll keep leaning on my masterful CMG mentors and using my research skills to prove myself worthy of my title. Just save the really tough questions until next year, OK?

The “Curmudgeonly” Gardener by Gardener Dave

(A few homely comments on gardening, offered by someone who has “been there and back”, and who apparently feels the need to sound off about some of the things that can happen while on the trip)

Favorite Quote: “I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died”
Richard Diran – from Curmudgeon Online


• If it’s not blooming NOW, it’s a weed!

• Never buy small, green garden tools. (Guess why).

• Buy a plant, feed it, water it, nurse it… and it will likely die. Next time you go for a walk, you will see a big healthy one growing out of a crack in somebody’s sidewalk.

• Automatic” sprinklers and drip systems become a lifelong “hobby”.

• Bindweed is the true Arnie Schwarzenegger of weeds, you think it’s been terminated, and it says “I’ll be baack!”

• Young yards have too much sun, old yards have too much shade.

• A Colorado potting rule: Small flowerpots WILL dry out in 5 minutes.

• If you want to know what squirrels and skunks love to dig in, go on vacation.

• You can parboil your vegetables (or flowers) with water from a garden hose that has been lying in the sun.

• Dragging your garden hoses is the very best way to knock down and break your plants.

• Grass grows the best in flower beds and vegetable gardens.

• Deadheading your flowers is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge… As soon as you finish, it’s time to start over.

• Colorado has at least 8 seasons… summer, fall, winter, spring, winter, spring, winter, spring...