Much of the country is now experiencing winter weather. Recently, snow closed the better part of Interstate 40 in New Mexico, and Hayward, WI, was 2° F a night or two ago. But here on California’s central coast, many plants are still growing and flowering (a little slowly perhaps, given the short days). But some […]
The winter blues have never been a problem in my life, as they have for many friends who speak often about their generalized or indistinct feelings of depression at this time of year. They swear it’s not family-related and I believe them. I went to a college-preparatory boarding school for four years, located in northern […]
Why are most people right-handed and so few left-handed? The short answer is that nobody knows. But left-handers are present in all cultures, and there are always significantly fewer of them than right-handers. In western cultures, 10 to 13% of the population is left-handed; in some archaic people (the Eipo in West Papua, New Guinea, […]
I’ll never forget learning about sunflowers. During a few days in 1987 spent with the genius raconteur, plant breeder and seed impresario, Cees Sahin, I traveled through space and time (especially the latter) on the Starship Helianthus. Cees told me the little-known fact that the epicenter of sunflower cultivation was not the US Midwest—no, no!—but […]
Don’t tell a soil scientist about the “dirt” in your garden, and don’t call the dust of Mars “soil”, as NASA press briefings generally do. The soil scientist’s outrage may be feigned, but the point will be that soil is much more than something you sweep from your kitchen floor or wash from your hands, […]
Jay Gatsby famously says in The Great Gatsby “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” He’s a larger than life character in a novel, of course, and (of course) he’s wrong anyway. But in good times or bad, most people would turn back the clock if they could. The past often shines more […]
Call me Dagwood. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—I read the funny papers in the Sunday newspaper. I was a child but not a child of the 1930s. Still Blondie, the 1930s comic strip featuring Dagwood Bumstead, engaged me, though I didn’t want it to, other unlikely comics less so. I remember Mary Worth, […]
Today, you may be surprised to learn, is the first day of Fall. Fall, you may feel, commenced weeks ago—just in time for the football season, innumerable Fall sales, and references to Fall in news reports. “Here Comes Fall Weather,” announced the Washington Post on September 15th. New York Magazine published its Fall Fashion issue […]
On my way to the last Heronswood Nursery west coast open house for 2011, I paused at a red light and waited to turn left. Coming from the opposite direction, I saw a motorcycle. It was very early morning, Saturday. There were few other vehicles on the road. The motorcycle was coming fast, accelerating hard […]
About 35 years ago a gardening campaign called “Fall Is For Planting” began. It was okay, but just okay. Nice title, but it didn’t go anywhere, much less take you along for the ride. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great – no “wow” factor, not even a smile. In fact, it described work. Planting […]
