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•JUNE'S GARDEN)
What do butter, puppets, earrings, slippers, perfume
bottles, skates, baseball bats, lady-in-the-tub, ballerinas, or
even a ginger ale bottle and music have to do with flowers
and gardens? Grandparents know.
In my grandparents' garden, bleeding hearts, fuchsias,
hollyhocks and bluebells grew, along with a black walnut,
Gravenstein apple, and bing cherry trees. Behind the house
there was a grape arbor that supported plants of blue and
white grapes called Concord. My grandfather was proudest,
however, of his raspberry patch and vegetable garden.
The gravel road leading to their house was bordered by
ditches of swampy water. In the swampy water lived frogs,
insects we called "skippers", and dragon flies. Alongside the
ditches were various grasses, dandelions and other weeds,
Chicory, wild roses and willow trees, where snakes,
butterflies, many different kinds of birds such as red-winged
blackbirds and meadowlarks made their homes.
There were fields of com planted by a neighboring farmer
where you heard and caught glimpses of quail and China
pheasant.
For my cousins and me, the garden, the road, the swampy
ditches and the bordering field provided a world of discovery,
adventure and collecting. A red and black feather from a red
winged blackbird was my discovered prize. My cousins'
prizes were yellow and green Jasper rock they found on the
gravel road and a long, iridescent skin a snake had shed.
They claimed it came from a two-foot long snake that lived
in the willows by the road. After that I was very careful to
stay far away from the willows.
My grandmother showed me how to use flowers for doll
clothes. Snapdragons for slippers, bluebells for hats, and
hollyhock blossoms for skirts. A bleeding heart was "lady
in the tub." Gently pull apart the two heart-shaped petals;
the stamen pops up; this is the lady in the tub.
My cousins and I would take snapdragons and put on a
puppet show much like Punch and Judy. We would act out
plays about dragons and such by squeezing the sides of the
flower, which almost appears to be talking. Pretending we
were Indians, we'd stalk quail and pheasant, but never caught
any. We also tried to catch butterflies, but frogs were easier.
Sometimes we would bring the frogs up to the house and
make pens to keep them as pets, but the next day they
would have disappeared. We later realized our grandparents
had probably released them and taken them back to the
swamp.
Our grandfather loved music. He sang in a quartet. My
aunt played the piano accompanying the quartet and they
practiced at my grandparents' home. He made whistles for
my cousins and me out of willow reeds and showed us how
to tightly hold wide blades of grass between our thumbs;
blowing hard on the edge of the blade made a vibrating
sound. At times we were allowed to join in with the
quartet. Our favorite tunes were "Home on the Range,"
"Oh, Susannah," "Sweet Adeline" and "Yankee Doodle."
My cousins and I also learned which wild plants were
edible and which ones to avoid. Dandelion greens and a
plant they called "woolen britches" were collected to eat.
We collected blackcaps (wild raspberries) and the small
blackberries that grew along the ground and over stumps of
newly logged areas. The berries were made into jam and
syrup, and our reward was a breakfast of Grandfather’s
shamrock-shaped pancakes with berry syrup.
I was reminded of these childhood memories when I read
the October issue of Yankee Magazine. Readers had sent
letters reminiscing about their grandparents showing them
how to make different images using various parts of a
bleeding heart flower. This was described as: "Carefully
take the two sides of the heart-shaped petals and place them
on a flat surface; these become two rabbits; the next two
pieces earrings, the next a pair of slippers and last of all, the
stamen a perfume bottle." Other versions were: "Two
rabbits, two skates, and a baseball bat; or two pink rabbits,
two slippers and a bottle of ginger ale."
This summer I was shown how to make a ballerina out
of a fluffy fuchsia flower. Break off the stem and insert it
between the bulbous end and the ruffled part of the flower.
One can imagine a ballerina with fluffy petticoats of red and
blue.
Another trick, though not from any garden around here, is
to shell a peanut and carefully crack it open along its seam.
Inside you'll find a tiny fork-bearded man.
And who can refrain from twirling the yellow blossom of
a dandelion or buttercup under another’s chin and when the
chin takes on a yellowish tinge exclaiming, "You sure like
butter!"
My grandmother was raised on a homestead ranch in
Northeastern California. Many Piaute and Klamath Indians
lived nearby. She would tell me about how she and her
childhood Indian friends collected pitch off pine trees to be
used as chewing gum. They also showed her how to dig
roots of various plants that were edible or could be used for
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medicinal purposes. She was very knowledgeable of all
plant life and inspired me to become an avid gardener.
Much of that Indian knowledge has been forgotten about
over the years, but people interested in it can still find some
sources. There is a book called "Wild Flowers of the Pacific
Coast," by Leslie L. Haskins, first published in the 1950s.
This book identifies many wild plants growing in our area.
Each plant that is identified also has added text about how
the Indian tribes used it and gives some history of the
legends behind the names the Indians use for many of these
plants.
Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are rig h t.
A rth u r Schopenhauer
Technical advanced knowledge children now learn from
media, books, schooling, computers and other means is of
course important and essential, but it doesn't take the place
of a "hands on" experience of digging in the earth, planting a
single seed, and nurturing it to a full grown plant. This also
teaches responsibility (caring for the plant), patience
(waiting for the seed to mature), rewards of harvest and
sharing the harvest with others.
Buchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. are beautiful in any
season, but in the fall even more so because ot the autumn
colors of the trees. This year a friend and I were there in late
September, and the flowers were still blooming. Paths were
lined with heliotrope, fibrous begonias, cosmos,
chrysanthemums, large beds of all color pentstemon and
dahlias.
Mrs. Buchart envisioned building this garden from a rock
quarry, and it is a masterpiece of creativity. The garden was
started in 1904. The first plants were given to her as a
present: sweet pea seeds and a rose bush. Little did she
realize her interests would develop into planting a series of
individual gardens that grew to include acres with fountains
and paths that are now visited by thousands ot people from
all over the world each year. What a legacy she left for so
many to enjoy and be inspired by the beauty.
Question: Who cultivated your interest in gardening?
Please send your stories to:
June's Garden, P.O. Box 74,
Cannon Beach, OR 97110.
Wes Lawson
Organic Gardening
& Maintenance
436-0223
Licensed & Bonded
#89168
P.O. Box 800
Tolovana Park, OR 97145
Spartina Roundtable
& Oyster
Roast
Organically Grown
OREGON MERDOW
Salad Greens
He/p make Willapa Bay
a Chemical Free Zone
Natural Soap Company^
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N o v e m b e r 19,1995
W hat yoa
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important as w h at yoa pat in ih
indulge in oar rich la th e rin g /
wonderfally. fragrant herbal
Bag
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Leslie £r Peter Sroufe, Cannon Beach, OR
Sunday
Packaged at: Grant’s Landing, Cannon Beach, OR
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AvA.ll.ABl-*. AT OseUANS Ê*0C W L
Moby Dick Hotel
Sandridge Road, Nahcotta, Wa.
Made from qadíify vegetable oils/
natural colors and aromatherapy quality pure
essential oils which im part their n a tu r a l/
herbal properties - no anim al fa ts or artificia
fragrances are ever used in our s
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Dr. Qin Pei, noted estuary and spartina scientist from
Nanjing Univeristy’s Spartina Institute will join
friends of Ad Hoc Coalition for afternoon roundtable
discussion and oyster roast. Dr. Qin Pei has invented
Biomineral Liquid, a spartina extract used
in China for various healthful purposes and is very
knowledgeable about estuarial life and tidal lands.
•e us at:
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HE WEEKEND GARDEN MARKET
Rl-M ET’S PARK A RIDE LOT}
WY. 26 A CORNELL RD. *
ORTLAND, OR
t SATURDAYS. MAY THRU 01
Donation $25(to defray legal expenses
of ad hoc coalition.)
For
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4792 S.E. Hwy 101
_ 3 . Lincoln City, OR 97387
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(503)
R.S.V.P.
(3 6 0 )6 6 5 -4 5 4 3
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Box 82, N ahcotta, Wa.
98637
UPPtR. LEFT EDGE NOVCWEER. W1S
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