The Fashioning Garden

Webster's Definition: fashion: n. a making 1. the make or form of anything. 2. act or process of making: hence, craftsmanship. It's winter now and I am missing my flower garden. I go out everyday and take a little walk through the yard, checking to make sure that all my little darlings planted over the last two years are doing ok in the frost and cold. I hate the cold and struggle to keep some warmth moving through me as I dream of springtime to come.

Spring is always my favorite time of year, maybe because it follows the most bleak and barren time of coldness. I always look forward to the beginning shoots of life that pop out as if to say, "our lives are starting anew", and I envision what they will blossom into in the yard. Always so much a surprise as I have a propensity to just scatter seeds randomly in certain areas of the garden. I have a wildflower area. I have an area for my bulb groups. And of course all depends on the amount of sun I am able to gather during the days of Spring and Summer. Living on the edge of the Redwood forest is challenging at best for a gardener. And so many of the plants I love, require sunlight that my yard simply will not permit with the grand elder trees looming high above, already a natural setting of spectacular beautiful evergreen. But I did say the edge of the forest, so the common road through the neighborhood affords me a small strip of sunshiny garden area to fill with dreams of flowering perennials. My partner Greg exclaimed one day "No plant in this town is safe!" as he watched me step carefully over a planted border to reap the drying seeds from a "Fried Egg Plant" that was thriving wildly behind the Water Department Building in town. It was true. However, I knew that no one cared about those seeds. They would fall to the ground, like so many already had, and be trampled by foot and automobile traffic, turn to dust and blow away. I figured I had a conscious responsibility to help that plant propagate... in my yard where they would be safe. I could not help but remember the children's book "Mrs. Rumphius", by Barbara Cooney, about a little old lady who upon taking her walks around town would gather lupine seeds and then spread them along the roadside of town until the entire town was exploding in beautiful shades of purple blossoms, in order that she "do something to make the world more beautiful". I loved the idea. I figure Mother Nature is the best, green thumbed "Lupine Lady" there could be. So I took careful instruction from my surroundings through observation. I watch the birds, eating the fallen seeds. I watch the weather and the wind, blowing the purple thistle "fairy" seeds as they parachute the breeze. I watch the seasons, the angle of the sun, the moon phases and I remember all the elders who gave me their wise guidance in my earlier years of gardening. And then there is the fact that I simply fuss too much over the tiny seedlings in excited anticipation of their growth. Over the years I discovered it was best for me to just leave most plants to their own devices as soon as possible for best results. So I've become a newbie seed saver, harvesting the tiny gems of local plants that I see do well in this neck of the woods, in hopes of eventually fulfilling my dream vision of a Springtime explosion of colorful blossoms. I've a neat and ordered array of little spice jars filled with my little harvest, and a starter tray of potential, a mini greenhouse sitting by my wood-burning stove in the kitchen. It's a little early still, but I figured that the outdoor plants have dropped their seeds, many to be eaten by the birds and squirrels, so I would follow nature's lead and make a safe sprouting zone for my little seedlings. In order to make my small corner of the world, a more beautiful place. With a little luck and not too much fuss, there will be many new additions of hardy flowering perennials to my front garden this new year, including a mini orchard with avocados, cherries, apricots, apples and pears. I'm going for ambrosia! Next, comes the beehive..... Lori Suzanne Holetz Designer, Creator, Visionary, Psychic, Mystic, Shamanic Healer Owner, One Tribe Spirit Publishing Author of The Garden, A collection of reflective musings inspired by visits to a small garden. http://emanjahs-onetribespirit.blogspot.com