Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Twigs
Always on my nightstand, for the last 20 years or so, has been The Gardener's Bed-Book by Richardson Wright. It's written in the form of a diary - one entry for each day of the year - with a longer piece each month. Every year I resolve to read it properly, each entry on its day. Every year I fail. Last night while I was getting caught up with February, the suggested activity for February 2nd seemd worth doing. He writes:
If, on one of these days, when Spring seems very far behind, you are seized with a desire for living color, go forth into the garden and make you a bouquet of twigs. ... Bring these home and set them in a bowl under a light: you have color variation, differences in texture and formation on a day when all Nature seems drab.
He offers suggestions - Kerria, Willow, Red-Twig Dogwood - but I have none of these. Looking out the window at the garden I see lots of gray and brown twigs. I cut some and brought them inside. Still gray and brown. I have some very tiny Japanese maples with colorful twigs, but I couldn't bring myself to cut them just yet. I know where to find some twigs with better color, but they're on public property. Nobody would miss just a few, but a little voice in my head says "What if everybody did that?!?".
So I try to appreciate the form and texture, and am reminded of a passage in a book I read over the weekend. Celestine Sibley had tried her hand at Japanese flower arranging and her daughter came into the room:
"It's not very flowery looking, is it?", she asked.
"I should say not, " I said. "Line and texture and feeling are there. Not flowers. Do you sense the somber mood...?"
"Of that stick?" she asked. "Yes, ma'am."
That was a really delightful book, by the way, and thanks so much to Annie for the suggestion.
Now...must order some Kerrias, Willows, etc.
Labels: books, plants for winter, seasons
8 Comments:
Entangled, I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and that it's still available.
I'll bet Celestine Sibley was an interesting person to know. You chose a great scene!
Now I feel like finding my copy, but I'm already involved with 'Two Gardeners', the February book club selection for May Dreams Gardens. That book led to 3 others by Katharine S White and Elizabeth Lawrence, so it's getting complicated!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie, I know what you mean about things getting complicated - now I want to read more of Celestine Sibley. I was marvelling at how she could find time to do all she did and keep a full time job. I can't even keep up with the May Dreams book club. I read the first two, but not in time to post reviews. Teaming with Microbes has been on my amazon.com wish list for a while, but I haven't gotten around to actually buying it. I have a copy of The Little Bulbs by Elizabeth Lawrence in my To Read stack. Maybe I'll read that as sort of a tangential alternative...
I love the idea of a bouquet of branches or twigs from the winter garden - I have so many interesting seed pods that I haven't wanted to cut back yet. The book sounds wonderful - when I hear of these gardening books (Annie seems to know all of them) I tell myself to read more - finding the time is a challenge!
I got a link to your site from Annie's - I'm from Virginia (Charlottesville) but not live (garden) in South Carolina.
I encourage you to read the book you have by Elizabeth Lawrence, and post about that if you can for this month's selection. And if even if you miss the deadline, please post your thoughts/review anyway, and I'm always happy to add it, even late.
Now, I have to check out this book by Celestine Sibley, and like Annie, I've gotten into some other Elizabeth Lawrence and Katharine White books!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens, hostess for the Garden Bloggers' Book Club and Tired of Winter
Hmmm . . . my thought is that it is the potential development of those "gray" branches that make them so exciting.. Sure there is beuty in the burgundy and amber stems, but what might spring forth from them (if cared for properly) is where the real beauty lies.
Thanks for reminding me that it is time to start working on this years "forcing" activities.
Pam: last fall we bought a place about 20 miles from Charlottesville. We plan to make it our retirement destination, but for now we're spending weekends there. We're glad we bought it, but it's made free time even more scarce than it already was. I generally like older garden books more than newer ones - I think the authors were better writers then.
Carol: I've already started reading The Little Bulbs, so I'll try to write up my thoughts when I've finished it. I love the book club idea. Wouldn't it be cool if garden books started showing up on bestseller lists, just like Oprah's selections?
Ken: you're right, of course, about the potential in those gray sticks. I tried to include a closeup of the beech leaf buds, but the focus wasn't clear enough. Forcing is something I've never made an effort to learn - I tend to just wait unti the flowers are almost open naturally and then cut a few branches for the house.
I'm just reading Sweet Apple Gardening! I think it is bounden to be one of my favorite book of garden essays :)
(as another who has only grey & brown *twigs*...not that they aren't lovely...I decided to use a cheap red oxide primer paint & jazz up some of my twigs...they came out a beautiful red/orange & I shoved them into a large blue & white vase...and I'm enjoying them very much)
Mrs. G: I was so taken with Sweet Apple Gardening that now I'm planning to read A Place Called Sweet Apple.
Painted twigs? Now why didn't I think of that?
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