latest column- thanks for the inspiration Maryellen

Learning to let it go - and grow

By Tim King

I got an interesting email from my aunt last week. It consisted of a conversation between God and St. Francis who were talking about a group called the “Suburbanites” and their odd landscaping habits. Here’s how it began:

GOD to St. Francis: “Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.”

To which St. Francis replies: “It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.”

God and St. Francis went on to talk about how boring green grass is, how we fertilize and water our lawns to make it grow, even when it is supposed to be resting, just so we can work harder (or pay money) to cut it down. God listened in further disbelief as St. Francis told him about the Suburbanites quest to scoop up every last leave in the fall, even through he intended them to be used as protection during the winter, and fertilizer come spring.

Imagine his shock to later find out that Suburbanites then cut down trees to grind into mulch to do the same job as the leaves!

While I will admit that I am guilty of many of these same tactics, the email did get me to try and imagine what a more natural landscape would look like in my yard. I began to look for examples to try and mimic.

I didn’t have to look very far.

The next time you are driving down main thoroughfare like Payne Road, the connector between Rte 1 and Rte 295 or Rand Road in Westbrook, take a look at the natural diversity of plants that thrive in the stretch of land between the road and the trees. I did, and was amazed at what I saw.

Where I had once seen only weeds and overgrowth (if I noticed anything at all in my rush to get to wherever I was going) I now became aware of a wonderfully wild strip of various colors, sizes and shapes that has grow and evolved entirely on its own. The view, when you take away the distractions of asphalt and road noise, would rival any other found in a more serene, hidden tract of land.

As I pass the wavering kaleidoscope of purple, blue, white and yellow flowers of all types, I wonder for a minute about a single stand of black-eyed Susan daisies that are set a few feet away from the others plants.

How, in the middle of the Maine Turnpike, high on a rocky cliff, with the noise and smoke from thousands of traveling vehicles, did this dainty blossom of sunshine come to be?

I imagine a lone flower flying out of a car, maybe a convertible, from a bouquet being brought to sick friend, like that floating feather in the movie Forrest Gump. Perhaps it lay along the roadside, withering in the hot sun, as countless cars speed by. Eventually, the petals dry and fall off and its seed pack lightens. One day, a huge 18-wheeler truck blasts down the breakdown lane and its tremendous backdraft launches the seeds up to more fertile ground.

All winter the seeds wait under a blanket of snow (hopefully) and are pulled into the soil by the warm rains of spring, and grow. With a firm foothold now in place and a bright future of life in the wild, Susan begins her new life overlooking the roadway where she was unknowingly abandoned just months before…and begins a family of her own.

One of my favorite quotes from Henry Thoreau is “there is only as much beauty visible to us in the landscape as we are prepared to appreciate—not a grain more.” I try to keep this thought with me as I walk, ride, hike or bike in order to better absorb what is in front of me. Like a Boy Scout, I want to be prepared, to see.

I realize that there is much more beauty already occurring around me than I will ever be able to replicate in my own private landscape. The challenge is knowing when to stop trying so hard and just let nature do what it does best – grow.


Tim King is a freelance writer who sees the forest and the trees from his home in Scarborough. He can be reached at - sylvan.sauntering@gmail.com

Big Car - Little Street - Happy Couple

Question from a recent trip down the condiment aisle

Why does Ernest Hemingway have/need to have his face and name on a line of cooking sauces ?

What's next....Henry Thoreau Concord Grape Jelly ???

My Column - Plant...Life

Looking Past the Bloom -
By Tim King

With summer now officially in full swing, the "Red Dot" clearance of perennials that have recently ‘lost their bloom’ is now on. Go to any garden center and you will likely find a sad shelf or rolling cart filled with browned, often drooping plants.

These containers, which were full of color and promise just a few weeks ago, are cast aside destined for immortality as part of a far away compost pile, or worse, simply forgotten. This is generally the time I like to add to my perennial gardens. Yes, maybe I’m cheap, but I also enjoy the feeling of rescuing these unwanted plants whose only fault was getting placed at the back of the line.

Their lives began just like the lucky ones who have already found homes earlier in the season. They are all born of solid ancestry, nurtured and raised into budding adolescents and then sent out into the world to do the best they can with what they have. Many arrive to nurseries and home centers still wet behind the ears, and again they are coddled and cared for with just enough food, water and sunlight to keep them green and alive.

And wait. Now, it’s a lottery. Who gets picked and who gets left behind?

When the warm spring sun calls forward the promise of summer blooms, many gardeners take stock of perennials peaking through the hard ground. What has survived the winter? What will need to be replaced? What do I want to move? How do they get those plants to look so BIG in the catalogs? These are just a few of the thoughts on my mind as well.

Inevitably, I’ll make a few trips to the local greenhouse - not to buy- more to breath in the warm air and kick start my senses from the deprivation of earthy smells and bright colors I have endured through the winter. (The annual Portland Flower Show having only whet my appetite while there was still snow on the ground!)

No, these early trips are primarily R&R (research and rejuvenation) journeys. I may buy a plant or two but my thoughts immediately flash forward to a summer day, much like today, when I’ll uncover a perfectly good day lily, daisy or geranium in need of rescue.

While many of their more fortunate cousins have already established their roots around the neighborhood, the ones I’ll pick have sat patiently waiting. As the days turn into weeks and they begin to strain against the confines of their now to small pots, many must wonder what they did wrong. Did I bloom to early? Too late? Was I not green enough? How did I end up next to the cinder blocks and why didn’t anyone put me back before now?

So the next time you visit a garden center, look past the evergreens shrubs, trees and groundcovers that are now in season and search out the table of shabby looking plants pushed into a back corner. Often, given a chance (and a little sunshine, water and good soil of course) these survivors often respond by performing well for many years to come. Not every plant you rescue will come back, but many do...you just have to wait a little longer to see whether your compassion has paid off. And, what’s so bad about that?

I'm going to write a newspaper column

We'll see what it gets me, but i thought it was about time that i did some writing for me for a change. Even be able to put my name on it. First one has been well received (by the editor, my neighbors and random people around town) and i'm working on the next one now.

Cross this one off the New Year's Resolution list....19 months later.

For now, you have to download the whole PDF, but maybe someday it will be online to view. (I'm on page 9-10)

TK

What I'm Reading - The Archer's Tale

i'm going to try something new and see what this story/series has to offer. so far, its pretty good stuff. maybe i might even learn something too.

I don't know how it happened...

but somehow, i have run out of duct tape at my house. Oh, the horror !!!

Quick Shot on a Pond in London

For Life.

Chair at Crewe Hall, England

Everyone should have a chair like this in their living room !

cool nights

for the first time since we moved to maine, we slept with the A/C on lat night....mostly becuase it was already in the window. it was kinda nice, but i'm glad that we don't HAVE to use it every day like we did in Groton.

plant life

the "red dot" clearance of perennials that have lost their bloom for the year is now on. i was at home depot and picked up some day lillie containers for $3 each. it's almost like resurrected these plants to give them a new life. First they are sitting there hoping to find a home, they bloom and put on their best show in order to entice a potential family. After, when it begins to droop and brown, it must think all hope is lost, destined for the compost pile, or worse, simply forgotten. I feel like i'm giving these plants a second chance, and they often respond by growing even better for me the next year. Not every plant i rescue comes back, but many do...all they needed was a fighting chance and a little attention.

What I'm Reading - The Fourth Hand - John Irving

Enjoyable so far, but i don't know where its going to go. Maybe a little too out there in terms of storytelling and it is leaving me feeling empty. i guess its entertaining, though.

Subtle shift

Move towards enjoying the life you live, not live trying not to die.

Henry's trail through Maine

"In wildness is the preservation of the world." Henry David Thoreau

“Wildness Within, Wildness Without”
Exploring Maine's Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail
Celebrating the wilderness spirit and recreational heritage of the North Woods of Maine.


Sorry that its been so long since i've posted last. I can't explain why i have not taken the time to write more often lately...i just have not been compelled to share. I'll try to get back on track if for no other reason than to maintain a log of what i was experiencing at this time.

Prayer of St. Francis

We read this in church on Sunday's...

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is by forgiving that we are forgiven,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Miss you, Dad.

Audrey graduates

It seems like only yesterday when she was terrorizing the family swinging a broom around the living room and throwing things through the window. Oh, yeah, that WAS yesterday ! Either way, time flies...

GK and TK at Fenway

Thanks to the nice people at COMCAST, Garrett and I spent Saturday at the old ball park! Cushy seats and free food...AND I found on street parking for $1.75 in quarters !!! What a day.

PS...The Sox won 8-0 too.

Something to think about. The lesser of two evils perhaps ?

....or maybe a new business opportunity, if someone could figure out how to dispose of these safely and efficiently.

Maybe they should have a deposit on them ? Then you would have an incentive NOT to just toss them in the trash.

"On March 13, Brandy Bridges was installing some of the two dozen CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs she had purchased in an attempt to save money on her energy bill.

One month later, though, Bridges is paying much more than she had ever expected to."

A cool bracelet for the trendy out there

The Onion's Floyd Landis-inspired Cheat-To-Win lifestyle bracelet is perfect for your deceitful lifestyle.