Everyone has days where nothing comes. I have plenty of them.  My tactic-the stall. If I don’t have an interesting idea, if the hair is not standing up on the back of my neck,  if things don’t seem to be working-I say so.  To my clients, that is. It’s tough to say “I have no idea (yet) what to do here”.  Much tougher for me, than for a client. I am better able to cope with a not-much-cooking day in others, than in myself.  Hedging helps out.  Its easier to say “I don’t know” if you tack on the end, “but I will find out for you”. 

My scientist Mom went back to work after raising her 3 kids-not in science, as she said too much had happened in the scientific world between 1950 and 1968 to catch up.  So she got a Master’s in Education, and taught high school biology until she retired.  Late in her career,  budget cuts dealt her 3 classes in chemistry.  She took to her bed, certain that these 17 year olds would figure out she she was no expert in chemistry.  I mean, she really took to her bed.  I had to go over to her house every day for 3 months, make her get up and dress, fix her coffee, and escort her to her car when it was time to go.  I made a point of being there at the end of the day too-why wouldn’t I?  Had she not done the same for me countless more days?  It was a good day when she finally understood that no 17 year old would ever come close to challenging her understanding of chemistry, much less her ability to teach it.  And that if she were ever asked something she didn’t know the answer to, she was eminently capable of any research required.  Not that this ever happened-it was her fear that threatened to knock her down.

I also subscribe to the notion that if a design is important, it’s not an emergency. If it is an emergency, then the design is just not that important. As a designer, I have to sort this out both for clients, and for myself. Some people truly do not need or want design, they want something else entirely. If I am lucky, I can figure out what that is. 

Being a designer is not that easy; it takes fortitude to relate to clients regularly, in a fresh way.  I have seen designers  ignore fresh, and berate their clients with their history, reputation and the like. This is lazy, and commerce oriented, although I do understand what it is to be swamped with work. Sometimes its good to just take a day; its an easy thing to recommend, and a very tough thing for me to do.  Yesterday I took 45 minutes to go and get a haircut-it was good fun.

Some clients ask the wrong questions, and reduce the impact of their issues, as they have trouble sorting out what truly means a lot to them. They have all kinds of pressures too, and sometimes their mind’s just not focused on it.  Some design exchanges that work can be attributed solely to timing.  We all are ready for things when we are ready-not before, or after. The evidence of an active imagination and a sure hand is not ephemeral-its just on holiday sometimes.  It can be such a relief to just take the day.

Dr. Waring, a professor I had in English literature in college, once said he thought the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next was the most important organizing metaphor for a life properly lived.  I have no memory of what this was in reference to-nor do I know why I do have a strong enough memory of him having said this such that I still remember it 38 years later.  For my 25th birthday, my Mom took me to the National Peony Show at the Kingwood Center in Mansfield, Ohio.  My strongest memory of that trip were how many people-probably then the age I am now-were so pleased that a person as young as myself was interested in peonies.  At my age, I sometimes worry that not enough young people will become interested and active gardeners; what a shame if the beautiful peonies bred over the last 100 years were to no longer be grown.  This is very similar to the numbers of gardeners who are interested in preserving  heirloom varieties of tomatoes, or antique roses, or heirloom apples.  It is a very natural and right thing to transmit the knowledge of the plants, and how they are grown, to the next generation.

I will be the first to admit that I see very few young people interested in what I do and cherish.  I don’t pretend to understand what they are interested in, although I do remember being a completely self absorbed pain to my Mom, when I was that young.   Nonetheless, she managed to get me interested in plants at a very early age-before I got to that “age of attitude”. I had my own private garden at 6, which I kept-and she stayed out of-until I got to be 16, and sociable;  gardening is a fairly solitary pursuit.  No more garden for me until I was out of college.  When I got to be an older young person, something clicked in.  I became obsessed with growing tall bearded iris and peonies.  So every young person I meet, I try encourage them to make something grow-you never know when that might surface in them, long after your effort.

Memorial Day-it was busy, breezy, warm-great.

  In the back of my mind is how it came to be that I am free .  Free to garden, free to pursue my interests. Free to consider doing things differently. Free to speak my mind.  Free to travel,  free to think,  free-as nature intended.  Free to plant, reconsider, reorganize.  Free, to change my mind.

Freedom does not come without a price.  On my mind today are all the people who protect my freedom. I do not know their names.  I do not know their stories.  I do not need any information beyond this,  really. I live in a country that values freedom above all else.  I am so lucky to live here; I am so lucky to have them. Not knowing the names of the people who protect my freedom, I honor them; all of them.

  Think of it-we are the only nation on earth that values, and protects  freedom, and  the sanctity of individual expression.  If  you should be an organic farmer, or an orchardist with a passion for delicious fruit, or a restaurant serving fresh and delicious food, or a gardener scooping up what the world has to deliver to better your garden,  or a simple  citizen  planning for your child’s graduation -hear this.  Honor those who protect you.

There is a big  group of people, nameless, who’s stories I  don’t know, who make many things possible for me, and you.  We are the only nation on  earth that values freedom to the extent that you and I enjoy.  Are we not so lucky?

Those troops who protect our country, and our way of life-treasure them.  I am thinking about them today, Memorial Day.

Sometimes a sense of what not to do in a garden can be as valuable as a sense of what would be good to go ahead with.  Up front, I would say I like all manner of gardens; I have only seen a few I did not like.  I think talent is local-not geographically confined to New York, Paris, Milan, and Los Angeles.  I see very talented people, making incredibly interesting things everywhere I go.   I have my dark moments, but I try to limit the time I spend on those. I certainly don’t want to devote too much space here to the no word.   But some things I avoid, when I can.

The World Series of Gardening:  Though the English would try to convince you of such,  given the years, time, and effort they have spent throwing the Chelsea Garden Show, there is no such thing as a Landscape and Gardening World Series.  The World Series applies to baseball, nothing else.   Once you garden for what someone else might love, or gasp about,  plan on your resentment to rise accordingly. Who wants to be admired for something you planned to elicit approval? Be true to your own ideas.   Gardening is about a stew of self expression and science, seasoned by nature.  Someone once told me the definition of an expert is someone brought in from out of town at great expense.  No kidding.  Trust your instincts and imagination, as long as you do no harm. Don’t put off getting help, if you need it.  I most admire individual and genuine expression-no matter what form that takes.  No one else’s expression threatens yours, period.

Don’t worry your garden.  I subscribe to the notion that most plants have an incredibly strong will to live. I try to let them be, as much as possible.  I enrich the soil with compost, I plant properly, I water: I make sure the soil is fertile.  Then I try to stand back, and appreciate what is miraculous about the natural world.  I don’t dust, sweep, polish, wash or straighten up, to excess.  Nature doesn’t need a whole lot of intervention from me-she’s been at the business of life many millions of years.

Don’t ignore the big picture.   Anyone who caretakes a piece of land,  is gardener-like it, or not.  A title to a piece of land,  is a piece of paper which is mostly about human community, and nothing about the stewardship of the earth we are so lucky to have.  Take care of what is entrusted to you-its a responsibility.  Keep your property up-this is appreciated by all your neighbors.  The weather applies equally to everyone-what are you thinking, planting tropical annuals in advance of warmer soil temperatures?  Tune in to the natural rhythm of things-don’t insist on your agenda.  I regret the big numbers of beautifully grown plants killed by too early, or too late a planting.

 There are so many great products available to gardeners; but there are people who misuse that science. Read the directions.  More may not be better.  Be caring;  think before you apply.

Most of all, don’t fail to understand that this planet is occupied by tens upon thousands of living things-all equally important.  Your voice is one of many.  Most true gardeners I meet understand this.