the “Do Tell” Peony (photo courtesy Hollingsworth Peonies) honestly could be my new all-time favorite
Pssst, don’t tell anybody, but I am so enjoying this Fall here in New Jersey. It has just been the greatest collection of glorious sunny days that I can honestly remember, hasn’t it? Enjoying my flowers and having all these weeks to be and work outside have been a great bonus for me, right up through this past week of 70F+ days. I’m always cheerful when I can put shorts on in November! And, today is another to add to the collection…..
Normally, by this time of November, I’m in the house and the grumbling has begun. There are usually more overcast and even rainy days. But, this year I have absolutely no complaints. May the rest of the time until the next growing season be this lovely, that’s what I have to say. You know me, “if I never have to wear a coat again…….”.
While this bright and sunny day keeps me with the glass is half full, perspective, I know in my heart I have to prepare for what lies ahead in the weather department. It’s time to amass a strategy for survival from the day that we seal up the house for good. And so, I have begun.
Last week, I took the time to sit down and page through, for the first of many times, Carolyne Roehm’s newest book, “At Home in the Garden”. For all fans of Carolyne, it is another must-have for the collection. I don’t want to say that I am like Carolyne Roehm, for she is an ardent model of sophistication and and executor of exceptional visions-extraordinaire. But, I like to think of myself as sort-of an apprentice of hers, a student of sorts, as I have followed her career for a long while now. Let’s just say that all those iconic photos of her walking back to the house with massive bouquets of, let’s say, peonies, haven’t been lost on me. I’ve attempted, in my own back yard this year, to copy her celebrations of abundant blossoms with the first cuttings of my lilacs, then onto my relatively modest crop of peonies, some roses and hydrangeas – up to and including those I cut this week.
Years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Carolyne at a fund raiser.
circa 1999
I remember this as a fun opportunity and I have spent a considerable amount of time over the years visualizing myself designing in scales and budgets akin to hers, both indoors and out, and wondering to myself what fraction of the raw talent and abilities of hers I would need to execute as she does. Let’s just say, I study her work and can connect with her on so many levels. And, I secretly wish for her dishes and glassware collection to be my own……. But, that’s another whole story. (visions of me absconding from her house with carton-loads of her gorgeous porcelain – hehehehe).
On a more practical note, what I have come to learn about passionate gardeners, is that while they put their gardens to bed each year around now in this part of the country, many will actually engage in one of my most desperate, yet soothing of behaviors, that of coming up with ways to divert oneself from the “dead seasons” and make believe one is working ON, if not IN, the garden, virtually 12 months a year.
Years ago, I became fixated on the one photograph, below, which appeared first in the intro page of her workbook, Carolyne Roehm Winter Notebook (circa 1999). Again, this image became stuck in my mind at the time and I quickly cemented myself to the idea that the survival guide to the gardener’s broken-hearted long weeks of “dismal” is the immersion of oneself in catalogs, 5 color-offset press releases (yes, I once worked in a printing plant), photo albums of the past seasons and an otherwise all-out assault to oneself of a mirror of the alive season.
courtesy Carolyne Roehm Winter Notebook
My first reactions to images such as this? Do people really look like this when they are at home working? When I’m in the middle of winter, I typically look something akin to a miserable bag lady, wrapped in my favorite fleece and old and heavy cashmere socks, jeans and my favorite old clogs. But, in my heart, I’m looking similarly elegant as I imagine myself to have a workroom such as this, paging through hundreds of catalogs, ordering copious amounts of new flowers and, as she says, sketching gardens on vellum with her colored pencil collection.
Anyway, Carolyne’s newest book succeeded in jump-starting me right out of the one grey day of last week – that of shaking me out of my funk and sending me off on a mission. This week it was to gather up the last of the nice looking pansies and set them out to cheer me as I walk to and fro the car numerous times each day.
Anyway, the point of this post is two-fold. One is that I wish everyone a happy day of sunshiny-planting today, as I just did. My new “Do-Tell” Peonies from Hollingsworth Peonies are in the ground as we speak. And, in doing so, I succeeded adding to the heretofore short list of
“somethings to look forward to” for next Spring. I will remain with watchful eye for these eyes to pop up through the peat and soil that I so carefully just caressed them into the ground in (ugh, the grammar). The combination of these and the 200 Naricissus that went into my new bed up in front of the stable the other day are the first two keys to my self-sanity as January, February and March loom out there on the horizon (that’s assuming I make it through the rest of Nov and Dec – but, so far, so good.)
Second is to develop a game plan for surviving the next 5-6 months, as people like Carolyne Roehm do. Make a month-by-month agenda for inspiring yourself to not go crazy during the months that you can’t go outside and garden. Yes, of course, we can look at the other seasons and what they have to offer, but we can’t actually garden.
I fill the house up with as much color as I can. Sometimes it is in the form of plants wintered over from the patio. Sometimes it is new additions I find here and there. This is where Carolyne’s Notebook series comes in very handy. In addition to what you can find on your own, she will sew the seeds of lots of ideas to bring cheer into the house – from the starting of Paperwhites and Amaryllis for December to the hot house Cyclamen and greens to supplement. Carolyne has a great repertoire of forced branches and florist-finds to bring you through to the days when the first Helebores burst through the snow.
There are lots of people one can follow who do a grand job at replicating similar coping mechanisms, if you will. But, I find that Carolyne Roehm provides the most glorious of collections. Even if you can’t buy all of her books, you can visit the Library – yes, a real bricks and mortar one, or go online. I will go out on a limb and say that any book of hers that you choose to invest in will not disappoint. Oh, and Winter is also a great time to comb around in used book stores – you might even find some of her books there for just a few dollars!
And so, as I sit here outside in the sun for perhaps the 5th hour in a row today, soaking in every ray I can possibly get to beam into my brain, I am happy that I spent a couple of days putting the rest of the garden to bed this week. My beloved Morning Glories exited extremely early this year with that first nip about a month ago. But today’s find of 2 outliers and all the roses I still have continue to surprise and hearten me.
What could be “the closing ceremonies” – it’s a day-by-day at this point:
the two “outliers” Morning Glories found this am
still going in pots
the “Do Tell” Peonies just before they went into the ground
I keep saying this is my last Lillian Austin, but they keep coming
my new pansies
homage to Georgia O’Keefe
………..until tomorrow’s little surprises
