MHS Leaflet, April 2024

Leaflet A MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION

Welcome to another edition of the Leaflet. If you are one of our many new members, or returning after many years, a special welcome to you, thank you for growing with us.

Over the past few months, I have been thinking about all the things that I am told not to do in my garden. The many products I am not to use, the plants I am not to plant, the designs that are passé. And more positively, all the additional things I need to use my garden for – saving pollinators, planting natives, greening food deserts, building community.

I largely agree with all of these - there is a scale of benefits to the way we garden.

But I also want to encourage ‘Guilt Free Gardening’.

The truth is this: almost any engagement with nature through growing plants is a net positive. Positive for you, your mental and physical health, your community, your environment and the planet. Most gardeners are starting with a yard that is an ecological desert – for most people anything you do will be an improvement! And by banning the sale of over 150 invasive species, the state of Massachusetts is doing a good job in ensuring you don’t accidentally cause serious problems so long as you buy locally.

I don’t want to dissuade anyone from higher goals for their garden, these are worthy and good and experienced gardeners should aspire to them. But equally, let's ensure no one is prevented from beginning by the fear that they aren’t “doing it right”. Let's encourage one another at every step and allow our delight in gardening to be guilt free.

Happy gardening,

James Hearsum President & Executive Director

APRIL

Karen Daubmann Director of Garden and Programs

April is a special month for us at MHS as we’ve spent the winter upgrading, organizing and preparing to welcome visitors back to the Garden. This year especially, our anticipation for the Garden season is bubbling over. We’ve spent the fall and winter dreaming of how the garden season would unfurl, moment by moment, so that we are showing off the bounty of the plant world. It has been a winter for the record books – unseasonably warm, very little frost, intermittent nuisance snowstorms, and so much rain!

To kick off Garden season, we’ve got more tulips to see. Tulip Mania was such a success last year that we’ve done it again, and bigger. I don’t think there is a more impactful plant in the spring landscape than the Tulip, there are so many types and they seem to flower just when we need them most – just when we think the landscape can’t get any browner and the sky can’t get any grayer. We’ve combined 40 cultivars of early flowering Darwin and Triumph tulips into beautiful mixes and planted them in several areas of the Garden. As the soil warms and the tulips begin to poke out of the soil, we will watch them closely and send out bloom alerts. In addition to tulips, don’t forget that we have daffodils galore in the Italianate Garden, and wonderful azalea and magnolia moments in the gardens too.

In the midst of Tulip Mania we have planned an Early Spring Plant Sale and Showcase, 4/20-4/21 featuring the First Sogetsu Massachusetts Branch Flower Show, which will be held in the Hunnewell Building, this floral display along with demonstrations and plants for sale from our greenhouses and from local plant societies will be a great kick-off to the gardening season. It is still early to plant summer annuals but many plant starts and cool season crops will be available.

We experimented with some wonderful spring annuals last year and plan for more this year – trusty pansies and violas but also sweet peas, stock, foxglove and poppies. The tulips, mixed with spring annuals will help to carry the garden even through some cold nights and late season frost until we’re able to plant out our summer displays in mid-May.

April is the month where we get glimmers of the brightness and warmth of the summer. We anticipate frost free days and begin to test the boundaries of what we can set out in the landscape. The bulbs planted with hope last fall emerge as the soil warms.

As we see the flowers, foliage, and color return to the garden, we can't wait to see you all return as well. We're excited to grow with you this year, in Tulip Mania, Early Spring Plant Sale and Showcase, this month, and our many exciting programs in the months to come.

We hope that you will join us to wander among the flowers!

Marianne Orlando is a landscape architect turned freelance illustrator who loves plants, and does commissioned drawings of homes, pets and people. You can see samples of her work at www.marianneorlando.com

Illustration by Marianne Orlando

Joanne Caccavale Dora Lee

Kaye Vosburgh

Tomoko Tanaka

"Heritage and Hope" at the Garden at Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA

REGISTRATION IS NOW FULL FOR: AMHORT KOKEDAMA

FLORAL DESIGN CLASSES I, II, III, AND V

REGISTER TODAY TO BE A PART OF THE FALL FLOWER SHOW IN: BOTANICAL ARTS AND MINIATURE GARDENS

UPCOMING CLASSES

Floral Design: Tulip Frenzy

Saturday, April 13 from 10-11:30am

Intro to Tulip Ikebana

Saturday, April 27 1-2:30pm

Dahlias 101 Overview

Wednesday, May 15 6:30-8pm

Tulip Design: Boho & Upcycled

Saturday, April 13 from 1-2:30pm

Intro to Tulip Ikebana

Saturday, May 4 10-11:30am 1-2:30pm

Floral Design: Teacup Arrangements

Saturday, May 18 10:30am-12pm

The Edible/ Ornamental Garden

Tuesday, April 16 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Virtual

Herb Liberation

Tuesday, May 14 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Virtual

Terrarium Workshop

Saturday, May 25 10-11:30am

Hypertufa Container Workshop

Thursday, June 6 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Eco Printing on Paper

Wednesday, July 10 9am-4pm

Pollination Ecology and Landscape Design

Monday, June 17 6:30-8:30pm Virtual

Kokedama Workshop

Wednesday, July 17 10-11:30am

LITTLE SPROUTS

A GARDEN CLASS FOR CHILDREN AGED 3-5 AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

Guided Herb Garden Tour

Wedneday June 26

Saturday June 29 9-10:30am

The Art of Planting Design Workshop

July 17, 24, 31 10am - 2pm

Little Sprouts is a monthly class designed to foster a love and sense of wonder for the outside world in your child. Each month, we will explore a seasonal theme through a 5-senses garden walk, story-time, a handson craft or activity, and a take home kit.

APRIL: TULIPS | MAY: SEEDS | JUNE: BIRDS

JULY: POLLINATORS | AUGUST: SUNFLOWERS

SEPTEMBER: VEGETABLES | OCTOBER: LEAVES

NOVEMBER: WINTER HIKE

BRONZE

DEADLINE TO BECOME A GARDEN OPENING SPONSOR IS MONDAY, APRIL 8. SIGN UP TO GET ACCESS TO SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS!

"Bulbs and Spring Ephemerals are the harbingers of spring, showing up before leaves are fully out on the trees above them. They provide early sustenance for pollinators emerging from hibernation and the promise of warmer days to come. Every year we anticipate their emergence, the tips of leaves bravely breaking through the soil in the cold days of early spring, reaffirming nature's reassuring rhythm and the change of seasons."

- Sarah Roche, Lead Instructor

© Doris Sheils

© Jan Boyd

Helleborus x glandorfensis 'Ice N' Roses' "Spring Awakenings" "Dance of Spring"

© Cheryl McCaffrey

Spring Ephemeral Wildflowers In Situ

Capture the beauty of New England ephemeral plants in their naive habitat in this 3-day class with Betsy Rogers-Knox. These special plants bloom early, before the leaf canopy shades their habitat. Starting with line drawings and a quick tonal, we’ll compose a small habitat composition using live subjects native to the area. With step-by-step instruction and demonstrations, we’ll incorporate many watercolor techniques including wet-onwet, dry brush and everything in between!! May be taken at the Foundations-level (150) or Techniques-level (250), with appropriate completion requirements for each. Suitable for artists who have completed at least two Foundations of Botanical Drawing & Painting classes or equivalent. 24 BAC 150/250

Tues. - Thurs., April 30; May 1, 2, 2024 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank

MHS Members $350 / Non-Members $425

Capturing

Seasonal Color: Spring Herbs

Studio Focus: Spring Flowering Trees

One of the prettiest sights of the gardening year is the show provided by spring. In the Garden at Elm Bank, at this time of year, there is plenty to draw and paint throughout, but the stars of the show are the Spring Flowering Trees. The dogwoods, viburnums and magnolias will be flowering as well as many other species. In this four-week class with Sarah Roche, celebrate the beauty of the spring as we take advantage of the garden’s splendor. We will record what we see through sketches and watercolor studies and create detailed studies of the trees’ transient flowers and emerging foliage. Note: This course may be taken at the Foundationslevel (104) or Techniques-level (204), with appropriate completion requirements for each. Suitable for students who have taken at least one Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting class, or equivalent.

4 Tuesdays: May 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank

MHS Members $250 / Non-Members $300

In this class with Tara Connaughton, we will capture the soft greens and colors of the season through studies of deliciously scented spring herbs. Focus will be on observational drawing and mixing accurate color to render the nuances of our chosen plant subjects. Students should have completed at least one Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting class, or equivalent.

24 BAC 062 | 3 Thursdays: May 9, 16, 23, 2024 |10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. | Hybrid class

© Betsy Rogers-Knox

© Pierre-Joseph Redouté

© Tara Connaughton

Introduction to Botanical Art: Foundations in a Week

If you have an interest in plants and a yearning to record what you see on paper, then this class is for you. All experience levels welcome. Explore the world of botanical art over four days in this course designed especially for you—the beginner. Sarah Roche guides your experience through structured exercises, projects and demonstrations, exposing you to the basic techniques and methods of botanical drawing and watercolor painting. This class is our introduction series for botanical art beginners. There will be a break for lunch on the longer days, please bring lunch/beverage. 24 BAC 101A 4 days: June 3-5: 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. & June 6: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank

MHS Members $315 / Non-Members $365

Beautiful Butterflies in Watercolor

Butterflies are a welcome visitor to our gardens in the summer months and play a crucial role in the pollination of many plants. A newly installed butterfly house in May will be home to Butterflies in Bloom, an immersive exhibit with tropical butterflies and the nectar plants that sustain them. Join Tara Connaughton as we observe, draw, and paint the unique colors and patterns of these beautiful, winged insects as they begin to grace the blossoms in the butterfly house.

Prerequisite: For artists who have completed at least one Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting class, or equivalent. 24 BAC 140

June 10, 13, 17, 2024

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Hybrid class

MHS Members $185 / Non-Members $225

Watercolors and the Graphite Pencil

Values do the work and color gets the credit. This double-media method with Susan T. Fisher is a great way to explore the benefits of both graphite pencils and watercolor paints. Graphite is perfect for developing a full range of values without the worry of watercolor application as a single media. Also, the addition of watercolor with graphite can create a variety of interesting opportunities to achieve a unique botanical piece. Participants will practice value application to subjects and add watercolors for a richer effect. The two mediums together will help clarify what can be confusing about the use of watercolor alone and expand the creative expression of mixed media in botanical work. Demonstrations and discussion time will focus on the importance of creating believable values at the start. Suitable for artists who have completed at least two Foundations of Botanical Drawing & Painting classes. 24 BAC 149 Tues. & Wed., June 11 - 12; Tues. - Thurs., June 18 - 20, 2024 | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Virtual, via Zoom

MHS Members $350 / Non-Members $425

© Tara Connaughton

© Susan T. Fisher

© Sarah Roche

Pollinators and Summer Flowers

In this short three session class, led by Lead Instructor Sarah Roche, we will take advantage of the butterfly house, and the wide range of flowers in the Garden around it. Working on a series of studies, we will investigate the relationships between the many different species of insect and the flowers that they pollinate that we find in the Garden. We will record their beauty in graphite, ink and watercolor. Suitable for artists of all abilities. 24 BAC 035

3 Tuesdays: June 25; July 2, 9, 2024 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank

MHS Members $210 / Non-Members $260

Drawing in the Garden: Sunflowers in Color Pencils

Get out into the garden and draw amongst the flowers with Carol Ann Morley. This summer there is a special garden exhibit of Sunflowers to the Garden at Elm Bank. Capture the beauty of Sunflowers with quick sketches, study the details of the flower’s structure through observation and add color notes of their vibrant colors. In the classroom have fun creating a color pencil palette to work from and discover what combinations work best for portraying greens and the tricky color yellow. 24 BAC 042

2 days: Wed. & Thurs., August 7 & 8, 2024 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank

MHS Members $225 / Non-Members $325

Portraying Sunflowers in Color Pencils

The beauty of Sunflowers have long captivated artists. The desire to portray their image is well documented, now it is your time. Carol Ann Morley will lead you on an exploration of the Sunflower’s fascination with an in-depth study of its beauty and shape. Begin with loose sketches to express the lovely shapes and flow of form and then study anatomical details. We will pause to explore the ever fascinating structure of the Sunflower's head and its Fibonacci geometry. Through demonstrations your instructor will show you how to problem solve the anatomical details and those difficult petals and leaves that are foreshortened. Following graphite sketches and studies your color pencils will bring to life your Sunflower with the radiance of color. Prerequisite: Suitable for artists who have taken at least two Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting classes, or equivalent. 24 BAC 143

3 days: Mon., Tues., & Wed., August 12 – 14 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank

MHS Members $315 / Non-Members $365

In First Person

Mark Sellew

In many regards, Prides Corner Farms (PCF) focuses just as heavily on people as it does on plants. Over the last 45 years, Mark Sellew, PCF’s current owner and president, has guided his team to become a major supplier of home-grown plants to wholesale customers along the East Coast and beyond. His remarkable growth and successes are an inspiration to all who understand the enormity of his accomplishments. Here’s Mark’s story in his own words.

The year after I graduated from Cornell, I joined my dad Peter in the greenhouse-tomato production business he had just set up in Connecticut. Within a short time, we realized that there were better opportunities for me to use my agricultural education and his fifty-acre farm, so we committed to starting a woody plant nursery. Knowing that the nurseries that grow conifers and deciduous trees were already well established, and not yet seeing the potential for deciduous shrubs, we decided to focus on broadleaf evergreens like rhododendrons and azaleas. Our thinking focused on New England being a prime market for this then-under-produced plant category, affording our new business a distinct competitive advantage. Today, most of our customers are along the Portland, ME to Philadelphia corridor, but we ship from Chicago to Washington, DC. Our current goal is to be the market leader source of landscape plants for our clients.

Graduating in 1978 with a degree in Applied Plant Science, I loved plants, but my courses were entirely focused on horticulture with minimal exposure to business management. My mantra was like the premise for the “Field of Dreams” movie: grow a great plant and they will come to buy it. Auspiciously, my dad was adamant about one demand during my first years: “get away from this nursery and go visit customers”! This was the best advice I ever had––it forced me to recognize that we were not the only supplier, or even the best––they had plenty of other choices. Some were reluctant to even talk with me because we were such a minor supplier for them. This was when I realized that if we were to prosper, our customers were the key; we must prioritize our customers’ satisfaction to become their preferred supplier.

PCF’s early years were challenging, learning how to cope with weather quirks, pests, crop disasters, product quality concerns, labor recruitment/training, and market demand, all considered “normal” situations in the nursery industry. We continued to be motivated to move forward, thanks in large part to our personal ambition that required us to successfully reach out to others for advice and guidance. We asked for suggestions from our customers (and competitors), conferred with local community authorities, developed nursery industry state and national networks, and called upon all the experts who knew more about what we were trying to achieve. The “two steps forward, one backward” concept truly applied to our business, and we moved forward.

Following my dad’s directive and visiting so many nurseries, I recall feeling ashamed seeing how some owners and managers treated their staff––being a jerky boss seemed to be an industry standard at some of these nurseries! Thinking deeply about this, I vowed to exchange the intimidation approach used by the boss to his staff with an attitude of inspiration for the people who work for us at PCF; I was convinced that if they felt good about their work, they would do a better job. As I had recognized during my visits to our potential nursery customers, I wanted our nursery staff to consider PCF their employer of choice, not necessity. This approach has proven its worth––I’ve lost only a single person who reports directly to me in all the decades I’ve been running PCF!

Many members of our staff have not worked in a nursery or even with plants before they come to PCF. We employ more than 600 people during our peak seasons, and we try to hire people with good attitudes, training them to be proficient at their job. Having a well-trained worker with a positive attitude reduces staff turnover and makes the work of leading/ managing people easier and more personally rewarding. We encourage our managers to strive to improve performance by applying another mantra: “find a better way”. People always appreciate being recognized

for their accomplishments, and at PCF we celebrate everyone’s work anniversary, especially those who have been with us for five years or more.

My dearth of management knowledge and experience soon prompted me to hire a professional management consultation team to evaluate our business practices and make recommendations. My wife Lisa also came to work with me, utilizing her Cornell MBA degree. A critical lesson from this commitment was recognizing the value of active listening and asking open-ended questions, thereby welcoming others to share their perspectives more freely. As costly as this process was, it was one of the best investments we could have made at this stage of our business. To this day we continue to apply these lessons, enabling us to achieve far better outcomes than if we were to rely solely on our internal views.

In recent years we’ve formed strong alliances with other nurseries, suppliers, customers, and competitors, to share mutually beneficial knowledge. I believe the nursery industry continues to be unique in its openness with others, likely because we are all engaged in so many long-term endeavors, with less focused on immediate financial results. Although we often compete with each other’s business, all our partners are convinced that good competition sharpens the overall outcomes, ultimately helping all of us. This is why PCF continues to be a pioneer in supporting nursery branding programs, even though they benefit other businesses not directly connected with PCF.

Thanks largely to our industry alliances, we’ve been able to recognize our own shortcomings and make important changes that improve performance, helping position PCF as a preferred source of plants for our customers. In recent years we’ve revolutionized our production and shipping processes, delivering plants on rolling carts that greatly ease handling and save time for customers. We call this our “lean-flow” program that saves steps and reduces the number of times each product gets touched, cutting labor and risk of damage. At our busiest seasons we load as many as seventy trucks each day, so our investment in the shipping carts was significant. But we’re convinced that the long-term value for us and our customers will be well worth it.

With today’s emphasis on being a responsible business doing the right things, it is Prides Corner’s goal to be an excellent steward of the

environment by adopting vigorous sustainability and energy conservation protocols while striving to make a fair profit so that we can give back to our community as well as enhance the well-being and professional growth of our employees. This philosophy is fundamental to our native plant production program, our e-commerce initiatives, our responsible chemical use guidelines, use of water, our recycling programs, our solar power production and all the plans we have for PCF’s future growth.

My ambition is for PCF to excel as the premier supplier of landscape plants for our customers, while continuing to expand our customer base and giving back to our community and industry. We do not envision moving to locations far away from current operations in CT, and we know there are more efficiencies yet to be realized. I measure our success in many ways, with relationships and sustainability achievements being just as valuable as making money.

My wife Lisa and I are working now on ways to pass on the business to our sons Ben and Jack who recently joined PCF, and I’m working harder than ever before to ensure this is a successful transition. I can truthfully say that I’ve never been bored for a single day at PCF, and nothing could be more gratifying to me.

I welcome your thoughts. You can reach me personally most anytime by email (msellew@pridescorner.com), text, or on my cell phone 860234-6713.

For ‘In First Person,’ Leaflet Editor-in-Chief Wayne Mezitt interviews people in horticulture and adjacent fields by asking a standard set of questions about their work. This column offers an opportunity for people in these fields to share their passions with readers; what motivates them, and how they define and measure success. Based on the idea that we’re often reluctant to talk openly about ourselves because of the potential for miscommunication or misinterpretation, Wayne works with the interviewee to transform their conversation with interviewees into a personal story from the interviewee’s first-person perspective.

A Victory Garden is like a share in an airplane factory. It helps win the War and pays dividends too.

Claude Raymond Wickard (1893-1967)

Claude R. Wickard was Secretary of Agriculture during World War II and head of the War Food Administration. He promoted increased farm production and citizen victory gardens1 as a matter of patriotism. His slogan was "Food Will Win the War and Write the Peace."

Feature: Vertical Files — Victory Gardens

The Library’s Victory Gardens vertical file is frequently requested by researchers. It contains clippings, notes, flyers, catalogs and letters, which are called ephemera, i.e., items intended to last only a short time. Ephemera, however, are a valuable resource as they are often the only tangible source of real time information on a particular subject or activity.

By the 1940s, life in the United States was very different from that during the First World War era. Fewer people lived in the country or maintained gardens. Agricultural practices were industrialized and crops were moving throughout the country. In 1941, at the onset of World War II, the government started a campaign for Victory Gardens because it needed to redistribute and conserve its resources: local Victory Gardens would prevent food shortages, support families’ own rations, and conserve transportation resources needed for the war effort.

1During the First World War, similar gardens were called “War Gardens” or “Liberty Gardens.” To encourage the public to plant locally and feel engaged in the war effort, the government promoted as “Victory Gardens.”

In 1943, there were 3025 Victory Garden plots in Boston, of which 49 were Community plots totalling 2.73 million square feet. There were plots on the Boston Common, Olmsted Park, Franklin Park, the Fenway and in the neighborhoods of Boston. You can find more information about where these plots were located in this outline of the inspection tour of the gardens.

The Society was active in the War effort through its involvement with other organizations, lectures, conferences, a popular weeky radio program and publications. In addition to providing reliable information on home gardening, it sponsored canning and nutrition programs.

◁ Demonstration Victory Garden on Boston Common in 1944. Society’s Archives. This Society played an important role in developing this garden. In 1944, Agriculture Secretary Wickard “plowed” this garden with a horse drawn plow as a promotional stunt for the National Victory Garden Program.

▷ The Library's Collections include seed and nursery catalogs that promote Victory Gardens.

MHS Book Club

The next meeting of the Book Club is on Tuesday, April 16th at 1:30 pm. in the Crockett Garden. The club will be discussing Alfie and Me by Carl Safina. All are welcome to attend.

April 16

May 14

June 18

August 20

September 17

Our Collections are Growing

On February 3, 2024, a bright and beautiful day at Elm Bank, Adrian Bloom spoke to a packed house of enthusiastic followers about his 60year journey nurturing “Foggy Bottom,” the subject of his most recent book Foggy Bottom, A Garden to Share. The beautiful Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank reflects his “Foggy Bottom” and was created by Bloom and a team of volunteers on “Extreme Garden Makeover Day” on August 3, 2007.

We thank Adrian Bloom for donating a copy of his beautifully illustrated book that brings the reader on a guided tour of his garden and provides insight into his design process.

The book is not available in the United States, but a signed and numbered copy may be ordered at www.foggybottomgarden.co.uk. Alternatively, if you are a MHS Member, you may get on the wait list to borrow the book by emailing mobrien@masshort.org.

The Orchard: A Memoir by Adele Crockett Robertson

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart

American Eden by Victoria Johnson

The Story of Flowers and How They

Changed the Way

We Live by Noel Kingsbury

Alfie and Me by Carl Safina

The arrow shows the site of the Bressingham Garden as seen from the Manor just prior to the installation of the garden. The Boston Globe, July 29, 2007. Society Archives.

COME VISIT!

The Library is open on Thursdays from 9am - 1pm and by appointment. Please email Library & Archives Manager Maureen O’Brien for an appointment if you want to schedule a visit.

◁ Bloom inscribed his donation with the following: "To All who visited The Bressingham Garden - come to the Bressingham Gardens - 17 acres in the 'old country' A. Bloom.”

anticipation

By John Lee

John shares stories of Bert and Brenda and their gardening wisdom. These chronicles feature recipes, tried-and-true gardening practices, and seasonal struggles and successes. Bert and Brenda were first introduced in the March 2022 issue of Leaflet.

On days like today, Bert could get to feeling a bit disconsolate. Sometimes the spring weather was so repetitively disappointing that he just could barely live with himself. A lovely warm sunny day would buoy his still chilly spirits only to be followed by what seems like weeks of dreary, cold days of sullen skies that settled in his bones. Usually an early riser, on successive days of April drear, he just wanted to pull the covers over his head and cuss the cosmos. At his advancing age, there seemed to be no good reason to face a day that felt like it offered so little opportunity for joy, much less satisfaction. Swampy cold spring mornings always seemed like the kind of morning when ‘keeping skunks and bankers at a distance’ seemed like a good idea or so his erstwhile parent might have said. Brenda would occasionally admonish his lassitude calling it out for what it was: early AM avoidance. She’d

pull off the covers, thrust a cup of black coffee under his nose and remind him that every path had a few puddles and he’d best get over it before the day was wasted.

Brenda was not one for wasting a day. There was always plenty of time for shut-eye. But whether the sun actually shone or not, a day cast aside for no good reason was just an excuse to be unhappy the next. She simply could not abide the thought of having to make up for lost time. It wasn’t like she hated to hurry, she simply preferred order to playing catchup ball. A clear head and clean calendar were what kept her days in line, her evenings a time of peace and quiet repose knowing that whatever had needed doing had been done. Tomorrow was another day and, having gotten through today, it would take care of itself. Just watch out for the ‘puddles’ and clean them up as you go along.

In fact, Brenda liked a dreary spring day – maybe not three in a row but a couple of them would get her thinking less about her daily chores and more about the rush of early summer when she sometimes felt the strain of needing to be in while wanting to be out. When there was a string of warm, sunny days, her kitchen sometimes felt constricting and she longed to be out in the gardens with Bert tending the young plants that would sustain their household through the a winter

attenuating day-light and despite the lack of actual sunlight on those mornings, she wanted to clean house, start to organize their lives around busier days, get rid of the pile of uncompleted crossword puzzles and make way for the annual fresh start. Brenda would inventory the left-overs – how many quarts of beans were yet resting in the freezer, how many quarts of tomato puree and halfpints of jams and jellies, pints of pickles? What needed to be eaten between now and the onset of the

like the one now waning. A warm day outside, planning the garden in reality, not simply on paper or in their journals, always gave her spirits a lift in preparation for the always eluctable pleasures of preserving the bounty co-created by their hard work together.

But a brief string of gray days, despite Bert’s sluggishness, often lightened her step. She keenly felt the pull of longer days, the

next harvest. What could she turn them into that might brighten Bert’s sometimes sullenness when there was a succession of down days?

Eventually, Bert would get over his mawkish moodiness. He’d rise and shine even though he did not anticipate getting much done on another gray day. There was only so much cleaning, sharpening, tidying, fussing and

cussing he could do outside on successive cold spring days. He sometimes worried that in his gray-day frustration, he would fix something that was not, in fact, broken and then there’d be hell to pay.

The gardens were still too chilly, too damp. It was too early to till much less plant anything outdoors. He had already started everything that wanted an early set-out and could tolerate a still-cool soil. This year, in a fit of what seemed like foolishness, he had even started a few trays of sweet corn just to see if he could get ahead of the last frost. A few hills under what few hot-caps he had left gave him a tenuous ray of hope, a light if silly, feeling of beating Mother Nature at her own game. Over the years he had slowly learned that timing had everything to do with success (i.e. joyful satisfaction) when it came to the spring garden. Not so long ago, the thought of setting out plants in the end of April was just plain dumb. Nowadays, for whatever reason he might divine, the end of April was no longer a farmer’s fantasy. Waiting until

mid- to late-May was now equally foolish. So, pushing the season just came earlier which made a string of gray days in April seem a little penurious. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” rattled around in his head.

His saving grace were the coldframes he had cobbled together over the years There hope sprang eternal: spinach, chives garlic, scallions, lettuces, Swiss chard and kale – all harbingers of a happier palette! A few years ago, he had made a frame to try for earlier asparagus (with modest success). As soon as the weather warmed sufficiently and he could still provide frost protection, he kept an eye out for the first spears and was careful to not let a single spear bolt.

Come spring, ‘winter waffles’ (with butter and maple syrup) became a thing of the past. As soon as there was half a handful of tender asparagus stalks, Brenda started making ‘spring’ waffles (same batter really) for their annual ‘welcome Spring’ breakfast - waffles with asparagus, a little

Gruyere and chives to garnish. After she’d made the waffle batter, she would roast a handful of tender spears just enough to soften; she’d chop the chives and some grated Gruyere into the waffle batter and make the waffles. In a separate skillet there would be however many eggs were needed - cooked just enough so the yolks were still runny – then top the waffles with the spears and the perfectly cooked eggs as Bert tucked his napkin under his chin. If there were scallions, she might add them as garnish or, similarly, a

little fresh thyme. It was a very fungible recipe so whatever was ready when the first spears were ready for picking might end up in or on the waffles. No matter; it was a spurt of spring whimsy as she had everything on hand at the right time and only needed to have procured a little Gruyere (which she probably had anyway). If this was going to be dinner, she might add a slice of Canadian bacon and maybe a spoonful of Hollandaise just to guild the lily and make the meal a little more filling.

John Lee is the recently retired manager of MHS Gold Medal winner Allandale Farm, Cognoscenti contributor and president of MA Society for Promoting Agriculture. He sits on the UMASS Board of Public Overseers and is a long-time op-ed contributor to Edible Boston and other publications.

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Marianne Orlando is a landscape architect turned freelance illustrator who loves plants, and does commissioned drawings of homes, pets and people. You can see samples of her work at www.marianneorlando.com

SEED BOMBS

By Catherine Cooper

Afew months ago I came across an article about seed bombing, an expression with which I wasn’t familiar until then. Seed bombing originated with “guerrilla gardening” and is a means by which wild flower seed can be planted in wasteland or other closed off or inaccessible places. The bombs consist of the seed, mixed in soil or potting mix and clay, which once dry creates a solid ball that can be thrown or placed in the chosen environment, as well as providing a case to protect the seed from being immediately eaten or displaced. While I don’t advocate planting seeds on others’ property nor using it as a means to introduce non-native plants to the landscape, it did resonate with me as the perfect way to try and introduce some wild flower seed into the “meadow” parts of my property.

Back in the fall I had gathered a quantity of seed from various wild flowers I have growing in my yard. They included Joe Pye weed, ironweed, coneflowers, black-eyed Susan, common milkweed, golden rod, pearly everlasting and blue mist flower. I put them all into a paper grocery bag and then stored them with the intention of sowing them on a mild winter day. By the time I would get round to doing this the meadow area would have been cut back along with the verge at the front of my property. This would give the seed a chance of reaching the

ground and hopefully staying where I put it. However, the success of some of these seeds is based on the fact that they are very light and can drift great distances on the breeze, so I was also aware that my success rate might not be so great if I couldn’t ensure the seed reached the ground or stayed there. In addition, while I might have a couple of wild areas which I would like to support wild flowers, I haven’t got the time or inclination to spend hours stripping rough meadow grass in order to expose large areas of bare earth into which I can sow seeds. In my experience, a bare piece of soil is an invitation for all sorts of plants to take root and they aren’t always the ones you want. Therefore, I accept that my efforts such as they are, might never create something Instagram-worthy but reading about seed bombs gave me the idea to try a different approach to seed dispersal.

Seed bombs can be made in a few ways. As mentioned earlier, the traditional way is to mix the seed with compost or potting mix as well as clay and to form small balls about the size of donut holes. The ratio of ingredients is 1:3:5 (seed:compost:clay) and the clay can be either naturally sourced from your property or if unavailable, air-dry clay or red powder clay can be bought from craft stores. Water is added to make the mixture malleable and then once formed, the balls are left to dry before use. A couple of different methods involve placing seeds into empty sterilized eggshells from which the white and yolk has been blown out, or a more artsy look is to shred colored construction paper in a blender, mix in the seed and, having used water to make a moldable paste, press the mixture into silicon ice cube trays and allow them to set. If you are not planning on giving the seed bombs as gifts, newspaper will work just as well.

However, the method I chose was based on what I had to hand. This method substitutes flour for the clay in the ratio of 1:3 flour to compost. Having mixed the flour and compost together just mix in the seed and add enough water to mold the mixture into balls. Given that late January had some dreary

A mix of wild flower seed. The long seed pods are from amsonia.

The finished seed bombs, ready to dry before planting.

days it would have made for a great indoors project, but I was lucky enough to have a mild day enabling me to work outside. Once the bombs were dry and the weather permitted, I set about distributing them. The nice thing about it was that it allowed me to place the bombs close to the soil and feel that at least some of the seed has been planted without much effort on my part. I had some seed left over, so I used it to make some more to place at the back of my flower beds as the voles had taken to reducing the number of coneflowers I have growing in these spots.

Now, having exposed these bombs to the weather, I am intrigued to see if this technique has worked. It’s still early days but if it works I will be able to vouch that it is a relatively easy way to add wild flowers to rough grass areas and would certainly make for a fun project to do with children.

Born in England, Catherine learned to garden from her parents and from that developed a passion for plants. Catherine works assisting customers at the newest Weston Nurseries location in Lincoln. When not at Weston Nurseries, she can often be found in her flower beds or tending to an ever-increasing collection of houseplants.