
Butterfly bush prepares to welcome a hungry bee.
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Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. It is a good day to celebrate our wishes, especially those wishes that have finally manifested for us.
I first wrote and published ‘A Dirty Hands Garden Club’ in the summer of 2014, and would like to share it with you, again. I hope that you have found your own community of gardeners, naturalists, conservationists, teachers, artists, and plant nerds, as I have so happily found mine.
WG June 2018
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Asclepias incarnata
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I would love to join a “Dirty Hands” Garden Club;
One whose members know more about fertilizers
Than they do about wines…
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I’d want our meetings spent wandering through nurseries,
Learning from expert gardeners,
Or building community gardens…
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Echinacea and Monarda prove beautiful native perennials in our area.
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Not frittered away in chit chat over drinks and hors d’oeuvres .
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Hibiscus syriacus and bumbly
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And all of us would be at least a little expert in something, and
Glad to share what we’ve learned;
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Native ebony spleenwort transplanted successfully into this old stump.
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And we all would love putting our hands in the dirt
To help something grow.
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Lavender is still recovering from the winter.
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My club would collect species, not dues;
Re-build ecosystems rather than plant ivy and box.
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Caladium ‘Fannie Munson’ with Bergenia and ferns.
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We “dirty hands” gardeners can band together
In spirit, if not in four walls.
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We can share plants and insights,
Instigate, propagate, and appreciate;
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Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
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Perhaps we can even help rehabilitate
Some sterile lawn somewhere
Into something which nurtures beauty
And feeds souls….
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Magnolia liliiflora is giving us a second flush of bloom in early summer.
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Others can judge flowers,
Decorate homes at Christmas
And organize tours.
These things are needed, too.
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Hibiscus syriacus, Rose of Sharon, opens its first blooms of the year.
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(But I would rather be out in the garden;
Where cardinals preside over the morning meeting,
And hummingbirds are our special guests for the day.
The daily agenda ranges from watering to transplanting;
From pruning to watching for turtles and dragonflies.)
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We wear our muddy shoes and well worn gloves with pride,
Our spades and pruners always close at hand.
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We converse with Nature,
And re-build the web strand by strand,
Plant by plant.
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Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’ with Basil
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If this invitation speaks to you,
Perhaps we can work together
From wherever we might find ourselves
Around the globe.
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Colocasia ‘Mojito’ in front with C. ‘Pink China’ behind
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We can each put our hands in the dirt
and create a garden,
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Nurture Beauty,
And restore health and vitality to our Earth,
our communities, and ourselves, together.
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Native Oakleaf Hydrangea glows in the morning Solstice sun.
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Poem by Woodland Gnome 2014
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“The Holy Land is everywhere”
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Black Elk
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Lovely plants, flowers and pictures! In our community garden this year one of our volunteers explored the summer solstice as a connection between the sun, the plants and trees, and of course, joy
Thank you for sharing your community garden’s video. Happy Solstice to you and yours!
My pleasure: forest Gardens are interwoven with the best of the human spirit , methinks 🌳🌞🦹🌞🌳
A beautiful way to think about it ❤
The local chapter of the American Rhododendron Society met regularly out at the Farm both because we produced all of the locally produced rhododendrons, and because we had room for meetings. The most prominent couple in the club grew only a few rhododendrons in pots on a deck in their very small backyard. That was the extent of it. When they wanted to acquire the latest trendy cultivar, they had to give away one of their older and no longer trendy plants. They really were experts. It just seemed odd that they grew only a few plants.
Plant people tend to be wonderfully eccentric. I’ve found a lot of older folks who know more than they can currently grow. Happy weekend!
Hyvää Juhannusta!
Happy Mid-Summer from a fellow Finnish gardener 🙂
Thank you very much ❤ ❤ ❤
I am a member for sure! Plants and gardening are my passion and my sanity! Fellow gardeners and garden bloggers are my tribe. I am so fortunate to have them also be my lively-hood these past 9 years. Happy Summer Solstice!
Happy Summer Solstice, Laurin!