I was nearly swooning when I brought my first bouquet indoors from the above camellia tree. My home is graced by not one, but two, of the above variety which are currently in full bloom, each standing at least ten feet tall! Half the front of the house is covered with these delicious blush blossoms, that fall somewhere between pale peach and pink. It is a splendor, my dears. Exquisite is the closest word. Yet even I was somewhat puzzled by the enormous impact these particular flowers had upon me once I had put three or four burgeoning blossoms in a lovely vase and placed them next to the bathroom sink. Was it the color? Was it that winter had had its effect and my soul just longed for spring, was filled up with the sheer delight of a freshly cut bouquet? Or what? Maybe a bit of both, I surmised. And then I picked up the book Oprah has chosen for her new free international workshop (which begins online Monday evening, btw), Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. And I was deeply moved to discover he opens the book with an “evocation” that begins with a treatise on flowers. He suggests that a single flower triggers in us a memory of our own most inner beauty, our true nature, a faint whisper, perhaps, of that which we have forgotten. Could it be?

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home…

William Wordsworth

I believe so, my dear gardeners, I believe so.

The garden abounds with camellias at this time of year. Outside my bedroom window I’m treated to an equally tall pink one. Perhaps some of you who are more educated in camelias than I might actually identify some of these. They were planted many years ago by someone no longer gracing Earth’s stage. I am simply the next to enjoy. And so I share with you:

I found this whimsical creature dangling over the fence that separates my yard from my dear next door neighbor’s:

“The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition…Flowers…would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless.”–Eckhart Tolle

I shall be eternally grateful for the beauty flowers bring to our lives. This month it is the camellias. Soon it will be the rhododendrums, the trusty hollyhock, and graceful cosmos and a world of infinite possibilities, forms, beauties. How lucky we are to notice, to tend, to provide, to teach, to enjoy, to appreciate, to be.

Love and blessings,
Kathryn xoxox

Posted on March 1st, 2008 by Kathryn
Filed under: Plants | 22 Comments »

Last year I got a big fat lecture from John the nurseryman about planting my tomatoes too early. He took me outside and pointed north.

“See that mountain? It has snow on it. You can’t plant anything in the ground until the snow on that mountain is gone.” Apparently this is local lore.

(Silently: “Whatever…”)

“What difference does it make, John? What’s the worst thing that can happen?
They freeze and I have to start over? My intuition says it’s not too early and it will be fine to put them in the ground now.”

So I did it anyway, and, as it turned out, I had really early tomatoes.

As you know I’ve been steeping myself in Celia Thaxter tales, and I can guarantee you that by this time of year back in New England her house was full of (get this) egg shells, all split in half, cradling seedlings which she put on a boat in spring and lugged ever so gently to her precious Appledore Island where she put them in the ground. And she would most certainly have been paying attention to whatever signals she had that allowed her to know it was Time.

I’d be interested to know what signals you all pay attention to that correspond to John’s planting clock, btw.

But, I am not a woman who particularly pays close attention to that sort of thing. I am a risk taker and I follow my own inner urges, for better or worse, and when you see the photos I took in the last few days, you will understand that the Planting Urge is coming up strong. And no wonder. Look at this!
Remember those daffodils in blossom just two weeks ago?

I mean what is a woman to do when she goes into her yard and sees this??

White voluptuous camelia, seducing me into thinking seeds, growing things, DIG-GING.

I’m not the only one. OMG, everyone in this town is carting around a shovel, a rake or pruning sheers. We are like ants, harkening to unbearable cabin fever and warm lovely SUN, and we are clearing, cleaning, building, pulling up, preparing for. It’s just astounding. It’s all around me.

In the midst of this the robins have descended. I don’t know where FROM. I’ve never seen them before in the two years I’ve been here. But they are coming in in droves and swooping about thirty, forty at a time. They probably ate a season’s worth of worms out of my back yard. I had mixed feelings about that, frankly, particularly when I discovered later it just doesn’t go IN. It comes out.
I was not familiar with how poopy robins are. Did you know?? My goodness.
Maybe it’s good fertilizer, though, who knows? They certainly had fun.

Speaking of fun in the back yard, Ruby is beside herself about being able to swim in her tub again. And for Ruby, swimming just goes hand in hand with mud. I don’t know where she made that particular connection because she came to me at age two. But that is her programming. Water. Mud. Once she’s wet (as in soaking) she wants to D-I-G. Here is the evidence of that little game:

But does she not look deliriously happy? And do her eyes not say, “Oh, Mommie,
I am having so much fun!!” So scolding is out of the question. I simply took her picture and said quietly, “I’m collecting evidence, Rube.”

More evidence that spring is nearly upon us is found in the quince in full blossom:

I will definitely try the recipe Loma sent earlier.

As if that were not enough, the first pink camelias are out.

Are they not just fabulously spectacular? Oh, my goodness. They are. Glorious!

And remember those little yellow crocuses I was saying good morning to every day when I walked the doggies in the rain? They are so here.

So you can see what I’m up against. Life is pushing its way forward on every front. It is lovely. It is light. It is love. Praise be!

Love and early spring blessings,
Kathryn xox

Posted on February 16th, 2008 by Kathryn
Filed under: Plants | 19 Comments »