GGClub - From Grass to Gardens - Spirits in the Garden and more gardens - by Janet Lembke

I am loving From Grass to Gardens and there are so many wonderful gardening tips that I want it available to all, so am entering it on this blog. Following are quotes from Janet Lembke, maybe slightly paraphrased, and my comments, too. Please hit reply and add your own comments.

Ah...now she talks about one of my favorite topics - Devas and spirits in the Garden. I first heard of lay lines, vortices and devas in the 70's when I read about Findhorn gardens in Scotland. Pirrko - I bet you can reply to this blog and add some tales of your own. first, Janet, then I'll share some stories.

Wooing the Green man, courting the Dame Kind. "Blessed, the person who knows the gods of the countryside, Pan, Silvanus, the old man of the woods, and the sister Nymphs." - Virgil

What is a Garden?
I would love to have Garden Club members answer this question - It would be a nice article or at least nice to share our thoughts on this.
"Can it be defined?" Is a patch in the woods a garden or does it have to be cultivated? One garden writer says there are six essential elements - "Scale, proportion, unity, balance, rhythm and focal point." Remind you of Elyssa's and Jeannie's talks?. Janet goes on to say that something is missing. Gardens have minds of their own. They're inhabited by a nervous green energy..connected with the divine and change willy-nilly, taking the gardener along for the ride.

Her friend Donna: "You should see my dog in my garden. He moves of so carefully around the plants and bushes." She showed how he lifted one paw, then the next with slow precision before moving an inch ahead. "He knows. He's honoring the Devas. But away from the garden, he's back to his old romping self." Whoa - I have never seen a dog act that way. Please hit reply and share if you have seen that happen.
Devas. Fairies in gardens. The Flower Fairies Changing Seasons by Cicely Mary Barker. Lots of definitions for "deva", some indicating evil beings, others indicating the divine. Deities. Tutelary spirits. Elemental powers of nature. Romans: Ceres - goddess of grain; Bacchus - god of wine; Liber - presided over planting and the setting of the fruit; Robigus - prevented blight, smut rust, wilt, et al. Use of the stars: Very important in biodynamic farming promoted by Rudolph Steiner; When Arcturus rises, build up the soil with light furrows so weeds don't smother;. Now we can read the Farmer's Almanac. Who is doing something like that? Please share. Virgil did say the key to success was hard work, he still invoked the gods and goddesses.

"Gardens burst with an exuberant green energy and positively vibrate with the unseen forces of growth and decay. ...the moon tugs at growing seeds." Janet's sister sent her a Green Man. He's been around in a thousand other green guises. Silvanus - man of the woods. Green Man's images in cathedrals, churches, and mosques throughout the world. Capitals of Roman columns. Egypt - Osiris. Sufi prophet Khidr with green footsteps. Chichen Itza. Holy color of Islam, the green of paradise so Muslims wear green when they go to Mecca. His foliate face is in Indonesia and Nepal.

Female. Mother Nature. Dame Kind.

Since reading about Findhorn, I have discovered other wonderful spirit approaches to gardening. M. Wright, of Perelandra (http://www.perelandra-ltd.com/) has incredible stories of how the spirits spoke to her. Actually they would not shut up till she said she would do anything more because she was exhausted. They said they were so glad someone could hear them that they were a little over-exuberant, so they toned it down. The summer of very severe drought in VA, she watered only twice and had a luxurious jungle. One suggestion she has is to rope off a special area that is reserved for the spirits and never garden in there. Another is to offer a bit of the energy of the different supplements a soil may need in the energy form. You hold a bit in your hand and say: May the spirits of this plot of land take the energy of this nutrient in the amount needed and to the right depth to nourish this soil. Molly, of Green Hope Farms in NH (http://www.greenhopeessences.com/) is told what to plant and what to harvest by her spirits - very clearly. Order the "flee Free" if you have pets or get bit yourself and get a huge catalog that also talks of her relationship with the land. "Flowers! This precious planet is bejeweled in Flowers. The gifts of Flowers are not just their beauty but their immense healing wisdom as well. I am so happy that you have this book in your hands. I hope it will sweep you into a deeper friendship with the Flowers and help you receive all the gifts that the Flowers want to give you. …All things at Green Hope Farm are the result of a collaborative effort with Angels, Elementals, and many beloved spiritual teachers. …when I use [these words] I am not trying to indicate any religious affiliation. I am trying to stuff enormous realities into tiny limited words so that I can in some small way indicate the wonder of Flower Essences."

A veterinary colleague living in Ashville, NC, introduced me to devas for the land she rented for a few years was full of them. I purchased some crystals from a local shop then two of us went to the property. I never heard them the way she did. I did sense their presence and a shift as they entered my crystals. When I carefully placed them in my gardens here I affirmed they were happy. Rationally I saw nothing specific from them.

Janet goes on to visit the gardens of several of her Staunton neighbors, who have all practiced "yardening" - turning a yard [of grass] into a garden. This reminds me how much fun for us to visit each other's gardens during the year.

I. Joann - wildflowers and volunteers.Rental property. While writing this book, Joann moved west and the landlord cut all the following down!!!
Nasturtiums and Gourds on the side. Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) has replaced the grass. Nine foot goldenrod. Zinnias. "Pokeweed reaches up beside the house as high as the eaves; its stems are dark pink, and soon its berries, now pale green, will turn purple. Cardinals relish them..people enjoy the tender new leaves." Mullein. Joe pye weed. Queen Anne's lace. She has a box elder tree which is rare that far south (Elliot Coues 1800s) maple-like chaste tree - "The sap yields a fine white sugar, but it is not so sweet as that of the real maple, and more is required to make the same quantity of sugar). In high school in NJ, we tapped our swamp elders and box elders and it did take a lot of sap to make syrup and sugar. Redbuds. Butterfly bushes, flowering crab, lilacs. It is filled with rusty treasures to catch one's eye. An arch marks the entrance to her garden and it was a maple she bent over to make the 6 foot arch. I wonder what would have happened to the tree if left to grow that way? It was cut down when she moved.
II. Carroll - dotes on floral color.Acre on a corner on an incline. First to grow flowers in the neighborhood on Rainbow Drive. And it stopped traffic. Front: Daylilies, African daisies, New England Asters, Irises ("too work-demanding"), St. Johnswort, yarrow, peonies and white flowered Boltonia. "Use pencils on your markers and it will not fade." Lots of trees and shrubs there, too. Side: Perennial begonia (Begonia grandis) is enormous; sweet bay magnolia; (She does not keep a book - takes a lot of photos - just like me). Backyard is woodsy - lots of trees and shrubs. Sassafras, dogwoods, wild persimmons, elderberry, spice bush (Swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on it), sothern magnolia, pin oak, beauty berry (cardinals and other birds love), white pine, hemlocks. Two compost heaps - one in shade and one near the house. Piles like mine!!).then a corner with orange flowers - orange marigolds, orange snapdragons, orange crocosmia, orange lion's ear. Nearby ar moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) cover a trellis. A Pool. The back forty vegetable garden. "Plant evening primrose (Oenothra biennis) to attract the Japanese beetles from your other plants" Won't that just attract the one's from the neighbors, too? My ferns and grapes are beloved by the beetles but they still munch on the 2nd (of 3) flowering of my rosebush).

Juliette dotes on plant-shapes and shades of green in her B&B (started in 2000). [could this be a field trip for a few of us?]
Front: 4 yellowwood trees native to the South. Large white flowers in the spring. 3 boxwood. She was so tired of cleaning up after the big Southern Magnolia that she severely cut it back to a bush and now it is only 6 feet tall and covered with the shiny leaves from ground up. Redbuds, black locust, bald cypress, fig and Harry Lauder's walking sticks (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') [sound neat - anyone have them here?]. Lots of steps and paths for visitors in the steep backyard. Liriope, poke joe-Pye, Hyacinth vine at the swing with fragrant blossoms with edible pods (Dolichos lablab).

Steve - small tranquil, well-shaded spaces limned by trees, shrubs and flowers.
Looks like a Green Man. Front is a rock garden. St. johnswort, white anemones, sedum, iris. Flagstone patio invites lingering. Ferns, trumpet creeper, Korean cherry tree (he traded two nativity scenes from his vast collection). Backyard has impatiens with enormous flowers ("the variety hawkeri was discovered in 1970 … by grant from Longwood Gardens..in New Guinea as an ornamental….hybridized…one is Trapeze.). Butterfly bushes. Not a blade of grass. She writes a lots about each of these plants.