George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

Officially Old

October 9th, 2018

   It’s official.

Leona with balding old George.

   I’m old.

   So is my wife, Sue.

   We were both informed of that by our 5-year-old granddaughter, Leona.

   Leona was telling us one day about “regular grownups.”

   “What’s a regular grownup?” I asked.

   “It’s a grownup like Mommy and Daddy,” she said.

   “So what are Grammy and me?” I asked. “Are we regular, too?”

   “No,” she replied. “You’re old.”

   Leona went on to explain that people start out as babies, then they turn into kids, then they become teen-agers, then they become “regular grownups.” The last step in her mental life chart is “old.”

   Since 5-year-olds are brutally honest, there’s no getting around this one with hair coloring or wrinkle creams or baldness-hiding hats.

   I shouldn’t be too shocked by the arrival of this waypoint. Sue and I have been AARP members for years, we occasionally qualify for senior discounts, and this year I hit the milestone of Social-Security eligibility.

   So, yeah. It’s official at least for me.

   My gardening habits further nail down certified oldness. Here’s the difference between then and now.

   1.) Then: Garden non-stop all Saturday with no breaks, no lunch, no potty stops.

   Now: Ready for a rest after about 15 minutes.

The “Weird Word” that Kids Don’t Know

September 25th, 2018

   When researchers ran a focus group with middle schoolers on why so few youths are interested in plant-related careers these days, they were surprised to find that not a single middle-schooler even knew what horticulture was.

The new BLOOM website is an attempt to make kids familiar with horticulture, er, “plantology.”

   The kids told them that “horticulture” was a “weird word.” They suggested that “plantology” rang better to their ears.

   A separate phone survey found that less than half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 35 know what horticulture is. And of those who do, only about a quarter of them consider jobs in horticulture to be a viable, fulfilling and respected career path.

   Most equated horticulture with jobs in lawn care, and that’s about it.

   That pretty much explains why 40 percent of the 59,000 open jobs each year in horticulture are going unfilled – at a time when 58 percent of graduating college seniors aren’t finding jobs in their field.

   You’d think kids would be flocking to plant-related fields.

   But they’re not, and that’s what led 150 plant companies, universities, and gardening organizations to band together to form a new organization called Seed Your Future.

   Founded in 2013 by Chester County’s Longwood Gardens and the American Society for Horticultural Science, Seed Your Future has been trying to figure out how to tell youth that horticulture means more than cutting grass and slinging mulch.

We’re Moving. Want Our Gardens?

September 18th, 2018

   Sue and I are doing the migrant-grandparent thing and moving to the Pittsburgh area to be closer to our grandkids.

The front of our Hampden Twp. house.

   We’re both semi-retiring, too. We’ve just had our offer accepted on a century-old, Craftsman-style, farmhouse on 3½ acres of land in Monroeville, so if all goes well, we’ll be moving there later this fall.

   That means we’re about to sell the house in Hampden Twp. where we’ve raised our kids and lived and gardened for 32 years.

   Are you looking for a two-story Colonial on a one-third-acre lot with a whole lot of plants? Know anybody who is?

   Let me know at george@georgeweigel.net or 717-737-8530 if you’re interested before we hire a Realtor and go through that whole complicated process.

   We’re hoping to get $295,000 for the 2,100-square-foot house, which was built in 1981 and is in the Cumberland Valley School District.

   Actually, I look at it as selling my gardens with the house tossed in as an extra.

   Sue and I have been digging, planting, “editing,” and lovingly caring for our plant family here since 1986. Beds are everywhere. The lawn is primarily the paths for walking through the gardens, although it would be easy to unplant some of the areas for those who want more grass.

   I’d even be willing to dig unwanted plants and take them with us… or come back next spring to turn beds back to lawn.

Our gardens include a water garden in the back corner.

   I figure all of the plants are going to scare away some potential buyers who see gardens as just a lot of work. But for a gardener – and especially a plant-geek, avid gardener – this place is a botanical jackpot.

   I’ve planted a lot of cutting-edge and trial plants over the years – some of which aren’t even available in garden centers.

   I’ve also gravitated toward interesting specimens and under-used beauties, such as the 12-foot-tall Japanese umbrella pine in the backyard, the 15-foot weeping Alaska cedar in the front yard, and a beauty of a Korean stewartia tree that’s very happy in the sandy soil where our kids’ sandbox used to be.

   There’s also a water garden in the back right corner, a large, highly productive, four-square-style vegetable garden in the back left corner, and an Asian shade garden with a pair of hardy camellias along the eastern foundation.

   One of my favorite plants that I’ll have a hard time giving up is the tasty and winter-tough ‘Chicago Hardy’ fig that I’ve espaliered along the west-facing brick garage wall.

   Oh, yeah. The house.

   We’ve kept care of it over the years, so it’s in good shape. The basics:

Last Call for Drawings

September 11th, 2018

   A year ago, I got tired and old enough to down-size my way out of the Garden House-Calls home-consulting business.

I’ll be doing scale drawings the rest of 2018 and that’ll be that.

   Since then, I’ve still been doing a limited number of scale drawings for those who send me measurements and photos.

   Now I’m sliding another step toward semi-retirement by knocking off the drawing service as well.

   So if you ever want me to design you a garden, this is the final call. I’ll do drawings the rest of this year, and that’ll be that.

   Sue and I are both planning to semi-retire and move to the Pittsburgh area to be closer to our grandkids.

   Fortunately, I have a career where I can whittle off particular parts of it rather than the all-or-nothing proposition that most careers involve.

   The Garden Drawings page of my website goes into more detail of what’s involved in getting me what I need to do a drawing.

   Basically, you take the measurements, fill out a questionnaire that I’ll send you, and send me some pictures, and I’ll design gardens with specific plants in specific spots on graph paper.

   The fee is $50 an hour. I can tell you how long it’ll take me once I see the size and complexity of the space.

   Sorry I won’t be able to help you with future gardens, but I haven’t yet figured out a way to reverse getting old.

   That “R” word is sounding better and better every day.

Nature’s Best Performance

September 4th, 2018

   No wonder Norwegians survey out as the world’s second happiest people. (They were No. 1 in a 2017 Gallup World Poll before the Finns beat them out this year.)

Some of Norway’s natural beauty.

   Despite the long, dark, cold winters, it’s hard not to have a joyful heart when you’re surrounded by the natural beauty of Norway.

   Words like “awesome” and “majestic” aren’t enough to describe this gem of Scandinavia.

   People told me that Norway was the nicest country they had ever visited. Now that I’m back from our latest garden group tour there, I have to agree.

See George’s Photo Gallery of 50 shots from the group tour of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

   The country’s western fjord region is especially stunning.

   Fjords are glacier-cut, deep, narrow waterways that open to the sea and have steep mountains on either side.

   The mountains go almost straight up in some spots and are usually blanketed with thick stands of conifers – mostly spruce and pine. The trees seem to grow out of solid rock, defying both botany and gravity.

   Green valleys of grasses, moss, and wildflowers grow where water and rock meet. Small villages with picturesque, green-roofed houses pop up here and there throughout the valleys.

   Norwegians have long built what they call “summer farms” to take advantage of this excellent grazing land for sheep, goats, and cows.