A t * -"
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>
•JUNES GARDEN!
Nasturtiums come back
Hard to eradicate them
Might as well enjoy.
During the last several years
gardeners from as far away as
Australia, England, Japan and
many parts of the U.S. have
found their way to my small
garden.
These visitors have
shared their garden stories,
we've exchanged seeds and green
thumb
knowledge,
and
I've
continued to correspond with
many of them. The garden did
become a way of life for me, we
grew together.
She made a garden
It became a way of life
Often, it lives her.
Anne Splane Phillips
c 1997
Anne's poem pertains to when I
made my decision to stay at the
coast in a house that had been
used as a summer cottage. I did
stay and renovate my cottage
and eventually created a garden
where before a few unattended
patches of reseeding nastur­
tiums grew alongside a soggy
yard. The grass could only be
mowed in the dry summer months
as in winter from the rains it
had standing water where frogs
made their home.
Thank you, Billy for giving me
space in your newspaper to
share my interest in gardening
with others. Some years ago
when you and Spud lived next
door to me, you know how much I
enjoyed the music you and your
friends practiced nightly, but
I always meant to ask you about
the oyster shells you added to
your compost pile. Were you
advised that the shells would
add nutrients to the compost,
or were they just meant to be a
decorative touch? Should I be
adding some to my compost pile?
The bird's song that day came
from a winter wren.
I had
become
familiar with winter
wrens when I had lived a short
time on the edge of a spruce
forest, which is their natural
habitat. I had thought I would
never see a winter wren in my
yard in the more open area
along the shoreline of the
Pacific Ocean, where the spruce
trees long ago grew down to the
water's edge,
but had been
logged in the early 1900's to
make room for homes for the
early settlers.
I was sorry you moved before
you made the garden you had
talked about, but we did share
a few over-the-fence gardening
conversations.
It's been fun, Billy! Goodby to
the old Upper Left Edge.
Good
luck and success to a new
U.L.E. when your dreams come
true of
finding a business
manager, leaving you time to
continue to be a very creative
editor.
So that day in November, 1980,
hearing the high, clear notes
and trills of the winter wren
and spotting it busily hopping
along my front fence was a
welcoming omen portending the
right place to make a home and
create a garden. For 17 years,
in November,
a winter wren
visits and gives me its present
of a beautiful song
I'd also like to thank the many
others who have helped me write
this column; my good friends
Beverly Kerns and Nan Williams
who both have edited and typed
my scribbles for publication
and encouraged me to continue;
Anne Phillips and other poets
who have used my garden for
their inspirations; the most
talented artist Sally Lackaff
for her pen and ink illustra­
tions; and you readers who sent
gardening questions that kept
the
spark
of
interest
to
continue the column.
When
I
first
started
this
garden I'd been given the gift
of a sack of potatoes from
Audrey and Art Smith who had
lived in this area for years.
Audrey's remark about what she
called Crazy Potatoes was "If
you plant these you'll never
starve."
I took her sound
advice and added a row of
onions, thinking "I can always
make clam chowder," since one
of
my
other
enjoyments
is
digging for razor clams. As it
turned out, the potatoes became
more plentiful than the clams,
as
they
became
harder
to
eradicate than the nasturtiums.
Those of you who already have a
garden know what
it is to
create an environment of joy.
Those of you who have just
started
a garden
and
have
cupped your hands around the
tender roots of a new plant,
setting it in the soil, then
been rewarded by watching its
energy of growth, you've caught
what's termed "garden fever"
. . . and those of you who may
only be thinking maybe you
might start a garden, plant
just one plant by your door.
Next year I guarantee you'll
want to plant two more!
I've become an expert in making
potato soup. The day I served
my family my special recipe, I
added nasturtium flowers and
chopped parsley to float on top
of each bowl. They crowned me
Chef of the Day. I still hold
that crown with my family of
friendly competitors of both
cooking and gardening.
Box 24Î-
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yr
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For More InfonuAtion, C a II:
Two years later another nation­
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UPPER L IfT ID C t M
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THE newsletter fo r people who garden
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April 12, 1997 at the
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The garden became known to
others after pictures of it
were published in a national
garden magazine. The editor of
that magazine had asked for
people to write in and answer
her
question,
"Why
do
you
garden?" My answer was, "My
garden has become my centering
place," and I was chosen with
five others, all from different
locations across the U.S., to
be
interviewed
and
photo­
graphed .
ó
STÏLlj ‘
the story of my garden, and
last year my garden was chosen
to be a part of a video for
Public
Broadcasting,
called
"Northwest Style of Gardening."
Hole in the porch floor
Can't decide whether to stay -
Then a bird sings near.
Ä ff proceeds Benefit Fire M ount Ain School. Q
ThAnk nom for vpur support!