A Grower Perspective

Back in the day, as they say, when I was a kid, long ago but not that long ago, a typical homeowner was daring to even grow a tomato around here let alone get ripe fruit. A cherry tomato was a more reasonable way to go. My dad used to yank the whole plant out of the ground and hang it upside down in the garage so the cherry tomatoes would ripen after the first frost came. It feels like the weather of the late fifties and sixties again.It would be warm in late May and as soon as school let out it began to rain. So here we are again. For the first time in 28 years lilacs were blooming as late as May 21st. How do I know that? It is our wedding anniversary and I had a huge vase of them on our table this year. In 1983 there was not a blooming lilac to be found, they had all bloomed earlier.

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 This morning Ashley and I joined Jane for a walking tour of the U of O campus.  Jane is the campus landscape designer for the U of O.  She has been coming out to the nursery for years to buy plants and we thought it was time for a field trip to her ‘garden’.  The three of us appeared to be the only ones walking on campus fully decked out in rain gear head to foot.  The weather would have no impact on our tour.  We started with the new buildings, the coliseum, the alumni center and the very impressive student/athlete study center.  Modern buildings are sometimes a challenge for me, but this one pulls everything together and is so thoughtfully done and you feel very much in nature; with water and a well appointed planting surrounding the building, lots of wood and stone and natural light inside the building and even a cozy fire surrounded by bright yellow couches just inside the door.  It was cool, just edgy enough to be avant-garde, and comfortable enough to make you want to sit down and have a warm beverage.  I felt like I was somewhere besides Eugene, it feels big town, new, nice and exciting.

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The weather, what we talk about around here, is crisp, clear, sunny, blue skies and downright cold. I don't know why but it making me a little cranky and maybe it is not the weather but the frozen pipe I have going to the washing machine and just the general concern about plants, animals and all of us in this cold weather. On my way to work I was thinking about what could bring me out of this funk, no need to get crotchety at this glorious time of year.  I looked up and saw the hill, Mount Pisgah, with a lovely pink glow. I could not meditate something this great no matter how long I sat.  Ahh, I can arrive with a little better cheer.

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A couple of week's ago I notice that the Swainson's Thrush no longer were singing their melodious, melancholy song in the twilight, I noticed the crickets started their chirping which usually unnerves me as I know it signals the downhill slide of summer into autumn. And then the almost unbearable hot weather came and all thought of anything like fall or winter were far, far away. When it cooled off again, I added another blanket to the bed and put on a sweatshirt in the mornings. And then with an almost imperceptible blink it changed, that leaf that yellows and falls, the slight droopiness of the plants turning the corner from vigorous to heading for fall look, and then the great thing that happens; a marked rise in energy. This is the ability to do things that a week ago seemed to take too much thinking and work to even want to attempt, now can get done in an hour or so. I noticed in our weekly meeting everyone was coming up with great and very useful and creative ideas, and was willing to implement them. I love autumn and the new energy it brings, and acknowledge the sadness that comes when we realize that the summer we wait for was circling around into the natural rhythm of our world. Jewish New Year is in September and it seems so appropriate to me to have a new beginning when you have the energy to match it.

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Today is the 28th of April, midway through an unpredictable month of spring coming and then reverting back to winter. We actually had hail today. At the nursery we are creating a crazy quilt of wonder. The quilt is what we call GroundWorks. GroundWorks is front and center in the nursery, it is the ‘see what we have' spot, the place where gardeners and landscapers can walk around and play pick. It is part of my job to create it but the more I try to do it the more it seems like it is a place of everyone's input and creation. We line the aisles with flowering trees, we stitch in smaller evergreens, we patch together the grasses and daylilies. What won't fit here will be lovely there and so on. It sounds like a mess but it carefully and naturally comes together and looks unbelievable. String is laid out so every plant is placed in a very orderly way. As we sell plants others must fill in and it doesn't always go in a planned way.  That's what makes it crazy and unpredictable and gorgeous, especially looking out the second story window. A lot of flexibility is required laying out plants, some give and take between the ‘designers', and an observation of what is ‘looking good'. Come look, all the Rhodendrons are just starting to bloom now and soon we will be glowing in living color.

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