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john_d31

Garden Writing In The Snow

John_D
20 years ago

I just came across a post by someone (on a different forum) who said that it was not unusual for them to have the ground covered with snow from October until April, with January temperatures never rising above freezing.

If you live in a climate like that, how do you write about gardening at a time like this? Do you limit your writing to the five or six snow free months? Do you catch up on your reading during the whiteout? Do you snuggle up to house plants? Or do you head for warmer climes and write about tropical plants and gardens?

(Personally, I'd get cabin fever so badly that I'd have to head south at all costs --even if that meant walking or hitchhiking.)

Comments (12)

  • clfo
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This post reminds me of a song by Lou and Peter Berryman on their 'Double Yodel' CD. The following lyrics aren't as good as hearing them sing it, but you'll get the idea...

    Pushing Spring Tango

    It isn't forty four degrees
    There is no green yet in the trees
    It may be March but even so
    There's still a foot of snow
    Tonight it's gonna freeze

    What green there is is in her thumb
    As her seed catalogs have come
    She can take those five below nights
    As long as she has growlights
    Her life is not so glum

    (Chorus:)
    Don't try to tell her she has to wait for robins to sing
    Don't ever say she's jumping the gun by pushing the spring
    She'll wave a dirty trowel and say so what if I do
    If you had spent your life in Wisconsin, you'd push it too

    You could try wooing her with wine
    Although you'll have to stand in line
    Behind a tuber in a tub
    An ornamental shrub
    And cuttings off a vine

    Don't bring her poems of romance
    But know the names of all her plants
    Don't buy a diamond to surprise her
    But bring some fertilizer
    And you may stand a chance

    (Chorus)

    Now you are nothing in her eyes
    If you don't photosynthesize
    If you have leaves instead of hair
    Then you may get somewhere
    I doubt it otherwise

    Don't bother opening your shirt
    Unless you're green she doesn't flirt
    She will ignore your conversation
    Her mind's on germination
    Her heart is in the dirt...

    (Chorus)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Lou and Peter Berryman

  • John_D
    Original Author
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    C.L.: I love it!

  • Ronroot
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    As a regular newspaper columnist, I think gardeners enjoy reading about gardening, perhaps more than ever during the winter months. As for topics, ther's no shortage at all. I've written about historic gardens, lawn mowers, wheel barrows, and all manner of things that summer leaves no time for.

  • John_D
    Original Author
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, but do you write about the beauty of the snow-bound garden as Tony (acj) from ice-bound Quebec has done?

  • johnp
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You know, as a garderner and garden reader in Minnesota, I'll say that one can only read so many articles about the beauty of the snow-bound garden. And by this part of winter that sort of romantic writing comes off as particularly, uh, silly.

    Sorry to be so cynical, but the winter garden is a mess of rabbit-chewed stems, birdseed husks piled under the feeders, collapsed grasses and perenniels (so much for "winter interest") dog-printed and -stained snow, snow-melt chemicals whitening the streets and sidewalks, etc, etc.

    Ronroot's got the right idea - give me a full range of garden writing and information cuz now I've got time to read the stuff. I'll file away the useful articles and muse on the rest. But please, enough with the winter wonderland crap. That got old before Christmas.

    PS - it's not the winter that's bad, it's the thaw period that makes me want to flee to sunny climes.

  • ian_wa
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That's when you resort to writing depressing garden poetry, or satire (or both).

    Once upon a morning dreary, while I pondered weak and weary
    Over many a cold and omnous forecast in the newspapor,
    Suddenly, there came a dropping, as of rain so gently plopping,
    Softly falling, dripping, sopping, falling over heath and moor.
    ÂÂTis not snow, at least, I said, neglecting to look out the door -
    ÂMerely rain, and nothing more.Â

    Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak November
    And the deer had just dismembered all my plants ([those] herbivores).
    Eagerly I wished the summer; winter, it is such a bummer
    Nary does one see a hummer* in the garden anymore.
    Though Grevillea victoriae blooms brightly as before,
    Rain, it keeps them all indoor.

    Presently my heart grew stronger, for the sound of rain no longer
    dripped and dropped and plipped and plopped as so incessantly before.
    ÂWell! said I, ÂA welcome ending to the rain so unrelenting!
    Now, before the chance eludes me, I had better go outdoors.Â
    For so many tasks awaited, miscellaneous lame chores -
    So I opened wide the door.

    Deep into that daylight glaring, long I stood there cursing, swearing,
    For now from the sky was falling snow, and not rain as before;
    Making not a sound they drifted, subtle, soft, by wind uplifted
    Flakes of whiteness now alighting Âfore the threshold of my door.
    Silence, it deceived me sorely; winter with its icy hoar
    Settled now its frigid score.

    Back into the kitchen turning, closing door to keep from freezing,
    From the cold air briefly wheezing, pitching out the newspapor,
    For its forecast had deceived me, and the snow that fell now grieved me,
    So I sat before the TV to find out what was in store.
    ÂNow, said I, Âto get the latest Âbout this blizzard which now roars,
    TWC** will know for sure.'

    But I soon became disgusted, finding they could not be trusted,
    For their forecast still suggested rain was all Âtwould be in store.
    ÂSurely, said I, ÂAny Joe can look outside and see the snow
    That falls upon my garden so, though TWC ignore.Â
    So I cast aside the rèmote, snowy blast preparing for,
    Stepped once more outside the door.

    Now I knew the task before me, to protect these plants so warmly
    Lest they freeze and die, as in the frigid wintertimes of yore.
    So I labored, although vainly, for the snow had now quite plainly
    Covered leaf and stem completely, blanketing the garden oÂer.
    Even so, into the greenhouse, yet untouchèd by the hoar
    I hauled many plants, though sore.

    But the nighttime, eÂer foreboding, now upon me came in closing,
    Ere I knew it all was dark, and on the snow fell as before.
    And the wind now came up blowing, further worsening the snowing,
    While the temperÂture was lowÂring, so I had to get indoor,
    Lest the stinging crystals biting freeze my body to the core,
    So at last I went indoor.

    Now the garden, it lies frozen; IÂm regretting I had chosen
    Many plants not suited to this climate far from milder shore.
    And the memÂry of my losses gnaws upon me, while I tosses
    Fragments of the plants that froze upon the burning heap that roars,
    Yes, a bonfire to dispose of all the plants that grew before -
    Now quite dead, forevermore.

    *Anna's hummingbird
    **The Weather Channel

  • John_D
    Original Author
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ian:
    I didn't think you got that cold on Bainbridge Island. LOL!

  • northernwriter
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good Question John, and very timely too
    ...and Ian, you have waaaay too much time on your hands (good 'un tho'!)
    I do beg to differ with the naysayers though. We gardeners and writers of the real north know that green lawns, boxwood hedges and pansies are not de rigueur for a truly gorgeous winter garden. We are pioneers and have pioneered a whole new style of gardening that EMBRACES winter - I'm not mad with cabin fever (well maybe I am but I'm sticking to my guns on this one).
    That's not to say that I like winter better than other seasons (I don't) but it doesn't have to be bleak.
    And I have practiced what I preach as a writer, having recently co-authored a book on that very topic. I don't know if saying the title counts as advertizing, but trust me it's the only one about 'winterscaping' for prairie gardens - but I bet it won't be the last. And, no it wasn't self-published. The publisher believed in it and it has really gotten a lot of media attention and did well over the Christmas period in Canada and is now available in the US as well.
    I bet the media thought it was kind of a joke at first (like 'Best refrigerators for Eskimos') but when they realized we were serious, most people got very enthusiastic.

    I sold four freelance articles to our major newspaper on the topic of winter gardening as well, so it wasn't a fluke. People are interested and it's really not all that much about waxing poetic about beautiful snow cover either.

  • John_D
    Original Author
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Northernwriter:
    Congratulations! Sounds great.

  • eddie_ga_7a
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Garden Writing In The Snow"
    The last time I wrote anything in the snow it was my name and I never finished it.
    Eddie Rho......

  • John_D
    Original Author
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Eddie:
    You've hit upon the essence of snow writing.

  • magnolia2017
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've always found the winter months to be less hectic than those of summer. Therefore I tend to read more about gardening as I have some extra time. As for what to write about there is seed starting, projects, info on new plants, pruning, spring cleanup, etc...

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