ANEW FRIEND REMINDED ME THAT EMILY DICKINSON lived “right at the intersection of solitude, poetry, and gardening,” a place that sounds like a happy home to me at this life phase. So before April, which is National Poetry Month, slips away, why don’t we celebrate with poems, a book giveaway, and a look at the incredible herbarium, or volume of pressed plant specimens like the one at left, that Dickinson compiled as a teenager? It’s all right here.
WHEN I TALKED to Doug Tallamy in February around the publication date of his latest book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” I didn’t want to go on and on about the advice in it regarding smart fall cleanup, which is one of the ways I know I’ve dramatically shifted the way I manage my own garden compared to 10 or even five years ago. But we were looking ahead to spring then, not fall.
I’m grateful that Doug returned to the podcast in autumn to do just that. Want to plan your most ecologically minded garden cleanup ever, and understand the consequences of each potential action you can take—including next spring?
The subtitle of University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy’s recent book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” is “A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.” Meaning: The choices we make all year-round, including the very important one of how we clean up, can help counteract an overdeveloped, fragmented landscape that puts the food web to the test. You and I are nature’s best hope, and I’m glad Doug joined me again to help us learn to support it.
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Solitude, poetry and gardening….
these are a few of my favourite things!
Welcome, Cheryl. Me, too. :) I suspect there are more of us out there than we know (since those of us who are this way tend to be home gardening, reading, and being quiet, tee hee). See you soon!
Oh so true. A pleasant retreat.
Although not really a poem I am fond of the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” There are several variations. I also like a poem that I tore out of a magazine.
In the hush of morning she waits for me
And again when night falls quietly
On little birds and rivulets,
On painted daisies in flowery beds,
On wings of stillness she waits for me,
This peaceful princess…tranquility.
Loise Pinkerton Fritz
I’m just getting into poetry but have been into gardening forever. As you say–solitude is an essential part of life too. Thanks for the opportunity to receive the book.
Welcome, Margaret. You did comment to enter over on the book blog — perfect! Nice to meet you, and hear that some of my favorite things are ones you share.