Seasons 7-12 (2023)
“As a writer, you withdraw and disconnect yourself from the world in order to connect to it in the far-reaching way that is other people elsewhere reading the words that came together in this contemplative state.”
-Rebecca Solnit from Orwell’s Roses
My time in the garden is more of a creative pursuit to enjoy than one of efficiency or productivity. I prefer to plant natives for the most part, but I also have a Mediterranean-influenced garden bed off our porch filled with roses, lavender, gaura, and rosemary just for the sensory experience they provide. In some seasons, I plant groupings in complementary colors or large quantities of pollinator-friendly varieties and experiment with new varieties of vegetables. In other seasons I create pockets of shade plants that feel like a tiny forest floor. Sometimes I’m just racing the clock to get something in the ground before it is too cold or hot or moving things around if they are getting too much or too little shade.
This week, however, it was time for roses and adding every bit of spring I could find at the garden nursery to enjoy in this near-perfect garden-planting weather we’ve had lately (with no mosquitoes yet!). I’ve added new roses to our garden, including Iceberg, Monsieur Tillier, and The Alnwick. I’m anticipating the shipment of Desdemona, Benjamin Britten, Munsted Wood, and Boscobel from David Austin Roses very soon.
David Austin Roses is an English company, but the roses are grown in Tyler, Texas. (I found these tips for planting bare-root roses from David Austin Roses to be helpful when my bare-root roses arrived.)
Photos above: Unboxing my first shipment of David Austin bare-root roses and a package of bird nesting materials that arrived with my water wiggler order from The Birdhouse Chick
My efforts to put beauty into the world through gardening as an offering and a connection with nature help me reckon with the world's harsher realities. I remember last year around this time reading an article where a Ukrainian woman told a journalist that the day before war broke out, she was going to plant tulips and daffodils. I remember thinking about what that must have been like to think about daffodils one day and then survival the next.
Ordinary activities like gardening may seem frivolous to enjoy when you are reading about war and natural disasters around the world, but we all grasp for something ordinary to ground us and help buffer the uncertainty and shock we feel.
I read about the balloons placed amid the rubble in Turkey in memory of children who died in the recent earthquake. They are haunting reminders of who was lost. However, the balloon is also an object associated with joy that can help us remember the spirit of a child.
Gardening is my way of remembering and celebrating what came before us, what is here now, what could be in the future, and the part we all play. Gardening is a circle of life that can be felt through all my senses and helps me process the human experience by watching nature.
Focusing my attention on nature slows me down. Observing an animal and the intricate way they move gives my brain a place to rest and contemplate. I happen to have had a good subject in the anole lizard living in my office this fall and winter. With spring just around the corner, she started to move around and sun near the window by my desk.
For several months, I’ve left food and water out for her, but she spent most of her time in brumation, snuggled up in the canvas produce bag I left for her as a cozy bed and cover. I left my window cracked on warm days so that she could head outside when she was ready to go. Slowly, she began to spend her days gaining strength by crawling all around the lamp and window near my desk. Earlier this week, she spent the night in a hiding spot on my desk, and by morning she was sunning on the front porch. She must have slipped out through my window in the same way she arrived. I even noticed she spent time with a fellow anole the following day. Enjoy this week’s video of the little lizard exploring and my time in our garden.
WEEKEND READING
This past week I’ve been reading Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit. At first glance, I assumed the book would be a biography of George Orwell. I was pleasantly surprised to find it has been so much more. One of the themes in the biography is Orwell’s internal battle to balance the harsh realities of the world with the beauty observed in the garden. I related deeply to this idea of my time in the garden as a grounding practice amid uncertainty.
The novel also touches on the history and Orwell’s experience in the coal mines of England, the Spanish Civil War, and his critique of Stalin. Solnit carefully ties together the connection between rose industry and colonialism as she reflects on Orwell’s experiences and those of history.
Solnit shares that her book, and even Orwell’s life, are “meditation(s) on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance.”
Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit can be found in audiobook format on Libro.fm
Enjoy this Spotify playlist that feels like springtime in the garden.
We’re entering a busy season of school activities and travel on school break, but I’ll be back on the blog for Seasons 13-14 on April 7. Be sure to check my Instagram account for book recommendations and spring inspiration until then.
What’s my simple joy this week? Watching the anole lizard who spent the winter in my office enjoy her first day outside!
(I’m only assuming the anole in my office is a female because of the white stripe on her back and the smaller size compared to the larger anole I saw on our patio near her this week.)
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52 Seasons Libro.fm Audiobook List
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Writing blog posts for 52 Seasons is a creative journey into the expressions that come from my heart: writing, photography, tending a garden, immersing myself in nature, reading stories from voices that need to be heard and sharing them with others, keeping a home, being an advocate and supporter of education and basic human rights, and sharing resources with others.
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