from the garden bookshelf

January is a good month to curl up in a sunbeam and read garden stories. This is also the month the gardening catalogues start filling up my mailbox. Filled with inspiration by the time March comes, I'll be ready with my early seeds.

Reading now: a little lore and history and the garden science of garlic  ..mmmmmmmmgarlic Not only is garlic my favourite fender of aphids, but I eat it daily. There's nothing like walking down Algoma Street when The Growing Season is cooking up something delightful - and the aroma of warm roasting garlic fills the street. 

In Pursuit of Garlic: An Intimate Look at the Divinely Odorous Bulb

Liz Primeau 

Greystone Books 2012

978-1553656012

A couple of reference books arrived in my stocking this year. I can't say enough for illustrated garden reference books - everyone should have them. These two include interesting sidebars of lore and historical notes.. which I always enjoy.

Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Food Plants

National Geographic 2008

978-1426203725

A Visual Dictionary of Herbs: A Comprehensive Botanical A-Z Reference to Herbs

Jessica Houdret

Anness 2000

978-1842150733 

For the Culinary gardenerd: a Shakespearean cookery. I really love this one. I'll have a lot of fun with it over in my food blog (when I feel like eating again). :)

The Shakespeare Cookbook

Andrew Dalby and Maureen Dalby 

British Museum Press 2012

978-0714123356

first  arrivals 2013

Floriography

 Flora's Dictionary

 "By a Lady"
Elizabeth Washington Gamble Wirt, 1784-1857
Originally published in Baltimore by Fielding Lucas, June 1829.
This first dictionary of flower meanings can be viewed in full (scanned version) (or downloaded to your Kindle) thanks to the contribution from the University of California Libraries to the Internet Archive.


My appreciation grows for these scanned copies of treasured books for the sake availability and record, but oh how I'd appreciate even more being able to hold an original copy.

Ms Wirt's floral dictionary was one of a number published during the Victorian Age; when gardening for leisure flourished, and propriety meant constraint, the symbolic use of flowers was a means of expression. Floriography, or the meaning of flowers, has continued to serve as a instrument of the romantic gesture. What I adore about Flora's Dictionary is the combination of science and folklore. The book begins by setting the stage for a botanist's study, but the references aren't direct and are quoted from literature, namely poetry - the songs of the heart.

Often the message is as much about the colour of the flower as the flower itself. Over time, the language of  these emblems of emotion has been reconstructed; for instance Ms Wirt's yellow Tulip symbolized hopeless love, while now is commonly known to speak for cheerfulness. Innocent Daisies stand over time, but the Foxglove Digitalis evolves from "a wish" according to Flora's Dictionary to being known as "dead man's bells" or "witches gloves" due to the potency of the plant's chemicals.
Whatever their meaning, flower symbolism continues to satisfy the human psyche, and the heart. With Valentine's Day quickly approaching I'm quite certain the florists will be busy interpreting the language of flowers.

As always, I recommend reading A Contemplation Upon Flowers by Bobby J. Ward.

 Also

The Language of Flowers; With Illustrative Poetry by Frederic Shoberl
Lea & Blanchard, 1848
Harvard

Flora Symbolica or, The Language and Sentiment of Flowers. Including floral poetry, original and selected.
by John Henry Ingram
Published in 1869, F. W. Warne and co. (London)



Flora Symbolica: Flowers in Pre-Raphaelite Art by Debra Mancoff
978-3791328515
Prestel, 2003

six more weeks

Wiarton Willie saw his shadow this morning, and so we have six more weeks of winter. Shubenacadie Sam, and Punxsutawney Phil did, and I'm going to assume our furry little friends R.O.U.S.'s in the LU Garden have also seen their shadows.
This means six more weeks of winter reading, so I picked up a copy of The God of Small Things today from the university bookstore. Winner of the Booker Prize, I was sold by the description of being "lush and lyrical", and the first chapter title: PARADISE PICKLES & PRESERVES.
Roy begins with a description of Ayemenem, India in May; rich in red ripening bananas, and fruity air - just the sort of place I want to read myself into on this cold February. A little bit of travel writing to take me some place else.

Groundhogs are popping up all over the city, not only in the LU Garden. The courthouse on Court Street also boasts a groundhog, and I'm sure there are some living near the ridge of Hillcrest Park - near our garden. Luckily Claire and Gromit have little affection for large rodents, and will do well at keeping them at a distance. woof

The legend of the groundhog's forecasting powers, though up for discussion, dates back to the early days of Christianity in Europe when clear skies on the holiday Candlemas Day, celebrated on Feb. 2, meant an extended winter.
The tradition founds its way to Germany, altering so that that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas, a hedgehog would cast its shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of cold weather.
The Groundhog Day was then carried on in North America during the late 1800s thanks to a Pennsylvanian newspaper editor and publisher, who organized and popularized a yearly festival in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The festival featured a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil to foretell how long the winter would last.

A typical groundhog, or by its scientific name Marmota monax, weighs approximately 9.5 pounds with a body length reaching about 20 inches.
Groundhogs use their short, powerful legs, claws, and large teeth to dig underground living habitats, which can run quite extensively with as many as five entrances and various tunnels extending some 45 feet, and as deep underground as 5 feet.

"Shubenacadie Sam, Nova Scotia's furry season forecaster, spots his shadow as he emerges from his enclosure in Shubenacadie, N.S. on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009."
(Photo by Andrew Vaughan / 
courtesy of THE CANADIAN PRESS)

As the light grows longer

The cold grows stronger

If Candlemas be fair and bright

Winter will have another flight

If Candlemas be cloud and snow

Winter will be gone and not come again

A farmer should on Candlemas day

Have half his corn and half his hay.

On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop

You can be sure of a good pea crop.

the dish I'm in

I was thinking today about life, the basics - elements...thinking about soil. Putting it all together for the FSRN garden, thinking about the "rugby soil".
I have a strong but fuzzy memory of my Dad sitting on the edge of my bed when I was young, home sick. He's dressed and ready for work, and he has come in to say goodbye - but before he leaves he tells me all about the cells in my body, and bacteria, and the importance of building as many healthy cells in my body so they could be a strong army against the ones that were making me sick. He explained it such a way that I was left feeling like I'd been placed in a petri dish; but I understood "sick" in different way than before, and it made sense. He placed me in numerous petri dishes, and I'm glad he did - because I called upon that nook in my memory today, thinking about soil.
Seeds and soil I should say. I 'm planning for seeds, ordering seeds, but not knowing yet what the story of the soil is. From pig farm to rugby field to FSRN garden/habitat and so it unfolds... I couldn't think about the seeds without thinking about the soil, and what the soil needs in order to provide optimum nutrients to our food plants so that our food can provide optimally for us.
...Can I seriously send out a communications bulletin requesting donations of earthworms? The compost trench will have to be a project and on-going experiment in itself. Building up the soil; beginning and thinking about the basics.

Years ago my mother gave me this book; now tattered (not torn) and very well read. It too changed the way I think about "me", biologically, and how I feed my body. I see myself standing there in the FSRN garden, in my pink boots (which just might be a tad too big in scale in my sketches) feeling like just another small (but important) organism with this huge dish around me....I think and I wonder: who am I swimming with, what is all here, how does this all fit together? So many questions. I do know that if I feed it well, it will feed me well - and that is all it really boils down to. Building blocks.


On Food and Cooking
The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Harold McGee
Scribner, New York
978-0684800011

this book will change the way you think about food forever




soil brainstorm: