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5 Ways To Know If You’re A Spontaneous, Uncontrollable Plantaholic

After 2 years of experimenting, researching, and trying to find someone who could help implement my ideas, i FINALLY finished and planted the first phase of my front garden.

Any of you who have been following my garden making in Israel know that I am someone who can live with ambivalence. Not rushing to decision allows me to meander and play with new ideas.

I tried a container garden (and hand watering) last summer. I knew it had to go. I desperately wanted to have a garden where I could sink my hands into the dirt, push the soil around, and have dirty fingernails.

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Fill the Frame – Tripods

“Why, when stabilization is built into many cameras and lenses, is a tripod so important ?” asked a student at a recent workshop.

I always ask my students to bring tripods to our photography workshops and stabilization is not the main reason. It is true that a good tripod will provide a rock solid, steady platform for a tack sharp image, but it is even more important as a composition tool. Continue Reading →

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What You Don’t Know About Saxon Holt: Reflections on His Childhood

Saxon has been contributing to Gardening Gone Wild for over 4 years…practically since its inception. As all of you know, he is a gifted garden photographer, a gardener, a fine writer, and a man with a gentle soul. You can see more of Saxon’s work on his website: Saxon Holt and his personal blog, Mental Seeds.…Fran Sorin

When pressed I confess to being more gardener than photographer. While I do love taking pictures and trying to figure ways to tell the stories I see, gardening is what drives me to pick up the camera. I rarely pick up a camera unless I am in a garden or exploring plants and ecosystems.

I come from a long line of gardeners. My great grandfather, John Sherwood, had a beautiful home in Baltimore Maryland with a huge garden that he left to the City of Baltimore. Sherwood Gardens is still open and famous for its tulip display. The enduring, classic azalea, ‘Sherwood Red” is named for him.

Growing up in Tidewater, Virginia, I became a gardener by osmosis. As the oldest of five kids I think my parents were eager to have me take up the garden chores, cutting the grass, pulling weeds, turning the compost. I don’t remember enjoying any of this. I do remember being paid a penny for every dandelion and thinking this was not much of an incentive.

Lawn Boy

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What You Didn’t Know About Debra Lee Baldwin: Reflections on Her Childhood

I asked each of our GGW Contributors– Debra, Saxon, and Noel– to write some thoughts about their childhood that left an imprint on them—–and how it led them to where they are today. It will give you a glimpse into the backgrounds of three extraordinary individuals whose passion for what they do comes through in their outstanding contributions to the gardening world. Fran Sorin

In Debra’s words:

“It’s a preverbal memory of bright sun, intense color and a tubular moving object ringed with black and white. I was 2, watching a kingsnake undulate amid geraniums. The flowering shrubs grew outside the picture window of my parents’ home, located in the foothills 30 miles north of San Diego.

Sometime later, my father expressed indignation than anyone would kill a kingsnake. Despite its impressive length (4 feet isn’t unusual) it’s a harmless rodent- and rattler-eater. He also felt sorry for hapless tarantulas, invented recipes for excess guavas, knew a cirrus cloud from a stratus, and could smell rain on the way.

As a child I took his knowledge of the natural world for granted, but now it seems marvelous. He had earned a masters in business from Stanford, but chose to work part time as an accountant and full time as a rancher. I tagged along with him through groves and garden.

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How To Have Faith That Spring’s Coming While Trudging In A Foot Of Snow: 7 Tips

I feel like I’ve been living on Noah’s Ark for the past few weeks. Non stop thrashing pellets of rain. And sand storms.

This has been one of the rainiest records on history for Israel. For a country that gets only 8” of rain a year, this is good news. Up to a certain point.

Because last year was so warm, I decided to get some sunflower and amaranth seeds sown early. A few dozen amaranths bloomed until a cold snap hit. The sunflowers germinated and in spite of the weather continued to add some girth and height.

I felt like I was seeing a sunflower for the first time when one bloomed. A glorious work of art that would make Michelangelo proud. Bold, welcoming, and optimistic.