I emailed the following letter to National Public Radio (NPR) in response to their broadcast, yesterday, Monday, May 29, 2006, Tending ‘Defiant Gardens’ During Wartime. Today I recorded it over the phone with them for possible broadcast on Thursday morning.

Regarding your broadcast, “Tending Defiant Gardens During Wartime,” broadcast around 7:50am EDT, May 29, 2006.
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5435131]

Thank you for this story, apt for Memorial Day. It made me think: How much “defiance” figures into my own gardening? The garden does not judge me. The insects and plants do not care if I’m angry or happy or grieving.

Gardening connects me to something bigger than me, bigger than everyone. Through gardening, I can tap into a sense of time that dwarfs the brief existence of humankind, the source of all suffering in the world. It reminds me that, whatever happens to me, to us, life prevails.

Gardening is an act of defiance because, no matter what people inflict on each other and themselves in the names of their gods, gardening demonstrates hope.

Just broadcast this morning on NPR:

From the Western Front trenches of World War I to the deserts of Iraq, soldiers have found comfort in the simple act of gardening.

Kenneth Helphand, writes about war gardens — not just victory gardens, grown in time of scarcity, but those planted on hostile fronts, including Eastern Europe’s ghettos and the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Helphand calls the gardens an act of defiance.

NPR : Tending ‘Defiant Gardens’ During Wartime

How much “defiance” figures into my own gardening? The garden does not judge me. The insects and plants do not care if I’m angry or happy or grieving.

Gardening connects me to something bigger than me, bigger than everyone. Through gardening, I can tap into a sense of time that dwarfs the brief existence of humankind, the source of all suffering in the world. It reminds me that, whatever happens to me, to us, life prevails.

Gardening is an act of defiance because, no matter what people inflict on each other and themselves in the names of their gods, gardening demonstrates hope.

I’m unfamiliar with the statistical analytical method of redundancy analysis used in this paper, and the charts were unintelligible to me. But the underlying thesis is intriguing, and underscores the importance of protecting and expanding biological diversity in all environments, even – perhaps especially – urban ones. It’s never too late to start making things better for living and future generations.

The unequal distribution of wealth in cities contributes to other forms of spatial, social, and biological inequities in complex, interacting, and self-reinforcing ways. … Spatial variation in urban bird communities may also reflect socioeconomic variables and cultural differences among the human population. The purpose of this paper was to examine whether socioeconomic factors (such as mean family income and ethnic diversity) also relate to the diversity and abundance of birds in Vancouver, British Columbia. … Results demonstrate that wealthier neighborhoods have more native species of birds and that these native species increase in abundance as the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood improves. With two-thirds of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2030, more and more people will grow up surrounded by a depauperate community of birds, and this could adversely affect the way people perceive, appreciate, and understand nature. Ultimately, as city birdlife diminishes and urban dwellers become dissociated from the natural diversity it represents, popular support for preserving and restoring such diversity may wane, allowing ecological conditions to further erode.

Stephanie J. Melles. Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G5
Urban Bird Diversity as an Indicator of Human Social Diversity and Economic Inequality in Vancouver, British Columbia
Urban Habitats, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 2005

The New York City Blogger Map, http://www.nycbloggers.com/:

A map of the city that shows where the bloggers are, organized by subway stop. Find out who’s blogging in your neighborhood!
…
You can click on the map to start exploring. The overview map will show you how many blogs are in each borough, and the borough maps will show you how many blogs are at each station. Click on the station to get the list of blogs. You can also browse by subway line, using the buttons on the right. And you can search for a specific blog by name using the search feature.

If you’re a resident of the concrete jungle, you might be surprised to learn that you share your home with some 1,300 plant species that have been native New Yorkers far longer than any of the city’s human inhabitants, having thrived through thousands of steamy summers and snowy winters here.

But what’s more surprising is that, second to new construction and development, the biggest threat to the livelihood of the city’s native plants are the numerous non-native invasive species. …

Gotham Gardeners: Go Native!
Science & the City, April 24, 2006, New York Academy of Sciences

June 24, 1997 waiting for F train to work, ~9:45am

Planting is meditation.
Weeding is meditation.
Watering is meditation.
There is spirit
In leaves
In insects
In soil.
Gardening is prayer.

I just saw a male Magnolia Warbler (additional link) in our neighbor’s apple tree early this evening, just before dusk. He was darting around the tips of the branches. He looked like he was foraging for insects among the leaves.

Because he was at the ends of the branches, instead of the interior, and because I was watching him from our upstairs back porch, I was just a few feet away. I got several good looks at all sides of him, so I’m confident of the identification.

I’ve seen them before, at our old place in Park Slope. This is the first I’ve seen one at our new house. They’re beautiful birds.

[Transcribed from notebook]

Native Roses

• R. carolina, Pasture Rose
• R. palustris, Swamp Rose
• R. setigera, Prairie Rose, Climbing Rose
• R. virginiana, Wild Rose
• R. blanda, Meadow Rose
• R. acicularis, Prickly Rose

Old Roses

• “American Beauty”
• “General Jack”
• “Pierre Notting”
• “Reine des Violettes”
• “Baronne Prevost”

[Transcribed from notebook. Summary of gardening work done over a long weekend.]

• Dug bed in backyard to left of maple, along wooden fence. Worked in coir/cocoa fiber, HollyTone, Hydrogel. X-planted Royal Fern + Ostrich Fern.
• TODO: X-Plant [to this same area under the maple]:
• Iris cristata
• Dryopteris marginalis
• Phlox stolonifera
• Planted Old House Gardens Dahlia “Union Jack” & Tuberose in Guy Wolff pots purchased last year.
• X-planted from front yard to South border:
• Campanula
• Coreopsis
• X-planted from pots to South border:
• Jerusalem artichoke
• Iris sibirica
• Baptisia?
• Planted seeds in South border:
• Nicotiana (various)
• Clary Sage
• Planted in vine bed:
• Moonvine (last weekend)
• Scarlet runner bean

[Text transcribed and sketch scanned from notebook.]

A photo of two heirloom Tulip varieties blooming in the front yard. On the left is the orange “Generaal de Wet”, introduced in 1904. On the right is the REALLY red “Couleur Cardinal”, introduced in 1845. Both are from Old House Gardens, “America’s only mail-order source devoted entirely to heirloom bulbs.”
Photo Taken: April 21, 2006

It’s our first full Spring in our house, in our neighborhood. Trees have been in flower for months now, it seems. Dogwoods are in bloom now. And we’re just coming into the riot of forsythia and azalea.

There were the first snowdrops, the first crocus, the first signs of irreversible Spring. In our front garden, eranthis, crocus, and now, still, the longest-blooming tulips I’ve ever seen, heirloom/antique bulbs all.

As always, my understanding of what the gardens want and need has evolved over the past year. Here’s my current plan:

• Front: heirloom/antique garden, all plants available 1905 or earlier
• North: Shady path
• South: “wild” garden, plants which seed themselves, mixed border, the “rough” garden
• Back: the native garden and wildlife sanctuary

In the back, I want to put a trellis w/porch swing beneath the maple, angled to face back toward the house, and situated for sun in the winter, leafy shade in the summer. The bench will be 6′, long enough to stretch out on for a nap. The trellis will be 8′, long enough to put the roots of the vines away from the maple’s trunk. Beneath the swing, moss and flagstones. Around the maple, moss, ferns and wildflowers. Mature shrubs will block the views out of the garden from this spot, and onto this spot from outside. A sheltered destination. A sanctuary.

A sketch of the proposed placement of the trellis-swing in the backyard. The back of the house faces East; South is to the right in this sketch. The swing will go beneath, in front of, the maple in the northeast corner of the backyard. In summer, when the sun is high, it’s shaded by the maple, the cherry tree, and our neighbor’s apple tree (not shown in the sketch).
This spot is visible from the driveway on the south of the house, and from the street along the north side of the house. Placing two large shrubs will block these lines of sight, providing privacy from without, and enclosing the views from within. The new lines of sight from/to the swing, constrained by the mature shrubs, are shown on the sketch.