Bittersweet Gardens Blog

Goddess Of The Internet

2012-01-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

Goddess Of The Internet
© 2012 Eddie Rhoades

She came out of nowhere, This girl I met on the internet,
or rather, she came drifting in out of the darkness of cyberspace,
ever so slowly at first, then like a rock rolling downhill she gained momentum,
soon as unstoppable as a lightning bolt.
The charm, the grace, the intelligence, the look, all too much to resist.
I succumbed to it all, helpless and hopeless, drawn by a magnet of lust.
Oh, pull me into your Internet, consume me, for I am addicted to you.
Waves of emotion flow over us, for I am the white hot flame of passion pounding
against the surf of her secret longings.
Ours is a forbidden link,
the longing of two souls drifting in the darkness of desire,
woven in the web of fantasies unspeakable,
temptation is strong and it urges us on.
Even tho our computers were far apart -
she pushed my buttons.
Google me, google me google me more,
Sacrificial offerings to the goddess of the internet seem somehow inadequate.
O free me from this madness
And return me to my sanity
Or not

Tribute To Jim Wilson

2010-08-30T12:26:00.000-04:00

Tribute To Jim Wilson by Eddie Rhoades

Janie and Jim - photo by Eddie Rhoades

I just received news that Jim Wilson passed away at home in Columbia, MO on Sunday, August 1st, at 5pm. He died peacefully in his sleep after succumbing to congestive heart failure and pulmonary fibrosis.

Jim will be remembered by most people as the host of the Victory Garden at Callaway Gardens for many years. But he was much more than that: he was a past president of the Men's Garden Clubs of America and past president and Fellow of the Garden Writer's Association of America and Hall of Fame member. He will forever be a legend in the gardening world and I am one of his biggest fans. I never told him but he reminded me of my dad, quiet but extremely knowledgeable not to mention handsome to boot. Women jostled each other to be near him.

I recall his speech years ago at the Georgia Master Gardener convention in Augusta which I truly enjoyed. You mentioned how it got away with you when a lady came up to you once and said she loved you - but we all do. When people saw you on TV and speaking before an audience they came to feel they knew you. And of course you can't know everyone in your audience. You were a national treasure and people just liked to be in your presence. Besides being a gardener I think you are best defined as being a Southern gentleman. Your story of how a teacher demeaned you for the work you turned in for writing an assignment where she deemed it was too good for the likes of you, remains with me. It is a shame some teachers do things like that to embarrass students and do not recognize talent early on and encourage it. I also remember how you said "We weren't poor but we shot every rabbit and caught every fish and picked every berry and poke salad for miles around so we would have something to eat."

Jim’s lifelong love of gardening — especially vegetables — had its start when he was a teenager during the Depression. He helped his father and older brothers grow and sell vegetables to feed their family. “we ate lots of vegetables, including roasting ears, from the food garden. Mother canned vegetables when the garden produced more than we could eat fresh.

At the last Garden Writers symposium I meant to ask you questions about publishing but when we were together I couldn't think of what the questions were. I was fortunate to sit beside you on the tour bus and you told me stories of how you were drafted and became a pilot. When our paths crossed at the Native Plant Conference in Cullowhee, NC you invited me to sit at your lunch table and introduced me to the entire Steering Committee. I know with your move to Columbus, Missouri you simplified your life and did some of the things you wanted instead of trying to satisfy the demands of everyone else. I am glad you found Janie Mandel to share your life and bring each other joy, you certainly deserved it. One of the highlights of my life has been knowing you. I still have the sweet bay magnolia tree named after you planted in my yard. It was my great pleasure to have known you. I was shocked when you would call out my name across the Trade Show aisles to give me a review copy of your latest book. In his own words
Jim writes:

Jim was commissioned as a second lieutenant and served on active duty from April 1943 to November 1944 as a fighter pilot. Returning from service, Jim used the GI Bill to attend the university of Missouri. He recalled, “I graduated on Aug. 4, 1948, with a degree in Agriculture — cum laude, despite having crammed a four-year course into two and one-half years.

“I sent out 21 letters of application and got back 19 positive responses, which speaks more to the scarcity of men with college degrees than it does to my desirability to employers.

“My graduation was scheduled for August, but several employers urged me to cut short my education and come to work in June. I elected to join Ferry-Morse seed Company in Detroit. I had worked up from an agronomist with the seed Production Department to Advertising Manager after the company discovered that I could write.” Kudos to whoever made that discovery; Jim’s writing and garden communication (TV and lecturing) have enriched millions of Americans over the years.

Jim said, “I had begun writing garden articles to make extra money. My first was “The Patient Gardeners of Carville,” published by Flower and Garden magazine in 1956. it concerned my visit to the Men’s Garden Club of Carville. I helped Sunset magazine with several of their books, fact checking and writing the text for annuals, vegetables and herbs, which I knew pretty well.”

To many, he was the face of the south — with his ever-present wide-brimmed straw hat — on PBS’ The Victory Garden. Jim recalled, “in 1982, while I was working with All-America selections, my friend Bob Thomson asked me to be a guest on the program in Boston. They agreed to plant a model AAS trial for Bob and me to evaluate during a program. Producer Russ Morash was apparently impressed with my ease in front of the cameras. They decided to “regionalize” the show and asked me to host programs from Victory Garden south at Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Ga. Thus began a new career for me. Gradually, the TV exposure led to lectures, which led to garden books. Together, they made a nice package.” Indeed. Until his “official retirement” in 2004 at age 79, Jim pursued his work as a horticulturist, moving with jobs to nine different states and from coast to coast. His career included working in public relations and advertising, representing the seed industry, running an herb farm (gourmet herbs for specialty restaur ants — way ahead of its time), television (he also hosted HGTV’s “Great Gardeners”), lecturing, writing innumerable articles, and authoring 14 books. Cathy Barash was lucky enough to co-author The Cultivated Gardener with Jim, and his last book, Home-Grown Vegetables: A Bountiful Garden for Lean Times with photography by Walt Chandoha, came out last fall — definitely post-retirement.

Jim’s public honors are many. In 1965, the white House chose him as a delegate to President Johnson’s Conference on National Beauty. in 2000, ‘Jim wilson’ sweet bay magnolia was named in his honor. in 2005, the Ray Rothenberger and Jim Wilson Missouri Master Gardener endowment was established at the university of Missouri. Jim was national spokesman for the GWA Plant A row for the Hungry program from 1995 to 2003. in 2002, the American Horticultural society named him Great American Gardener, and in 2004, he received the Medallion of Honor from All-America Selections for lifetime achievement.

In addition to his prolific professional contributions, Jim donated his expertise to volunteering and mentoring, especially to community gardening. Traveling in the United States and throughout the world, Jim remained a lifelong learner. He was a proud participant in the Honor Flight program for military veterans to visit the memorials in Washington, D.C.

At the end of My Life and Times, in the section he titled “Examining My Own Navel,” Jim wrote, “I’ve never been asked, ‘Who are you?’ by a person who was interested in more than my name. I could come up with cosmic answers such as, ‘I am a human being,’ and misleading answers such as, ‘I am a Christian.’ I see myself as a serious person, but one who enjoys laughter and a good joke. I have rough-hewn facial features that people remember, and a voice that people call ‘unique’ for reasons I can’t understand. Few have ever called me ‘handsome’ and no one, to my knowledge, ‘ugly.’ I have an overdeveloped sense of fair play, dating back, I suppose, when life dealt me shoddy hands of cards. I am not among the intelligentsia, but one doesn’t finish a four-year course in two and one-half years with honors if he or she is average. For most of my life I was a bit taller than average, which does give one a psychological advantage.

“I suppose I am more creative than most, adept at summing up ideas verbally or writing, quick to come to conclusions by mysterious routes rather than by linear thinking. My vocabulary is large; it contains many words I seldom use because of fear of losing or confusing listeners. Nevertheless, I get a certain wicked satisfaction out of extracting from memory and using a word that is exactly right for the context even if it does cause a certain amount of consternation. Words, to me, are like good tools in the hands of an artisan.

“In trying to define who I am (how I see myself) I usually fall back on what I do, what I enjoy, how I react.... I am curious about every living thing, am not afraid of snakes, and love plants and most people. it falls to my friends and family to decide who I am. I am not concerned about ‘Judgment Day.’ it isn’t hubris that emboldens me to utter such blasphemy, but a growing mistrust of the clerics who imprinted me with the typical guilt-ridden southern protestant ethic. Life can be almost unbearably beautiful, but having to constantly avoid transgressions can produce a myopia that narrows such opportunities for joy to mere glimpses of paradise.”

How does garden writer Cathy Barash sum up Jim Wilson, the man? Many GWA members have written that he was the first “celebrity” they met who talked to them one-on- one and gave sage advice — on gardening and careers. He always had time for anyone, and then remembered his/her name year after year. He is remembered by some for his fine-timbered voice at karaoke and by others who had “the honor of dancing with him” at the same yearly event. To me, he was the ultimate southern gentleman with a wonderful sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye. one of the most valuable lessons he taught me was, “it costs nothing to thank people who help you; give credit to everyone who helps you along the way.” other “Wilson Pearls of wisdom” were: “Write about your passion; treat your audience as equals and never talk or write down to them; and always remember that what you say or write may have a profound effect on someone.” I will miss his friendship and wisdom, his caring, and just knowing that he was just a phone call or e-mail away.

The family suggests donations to the Rothenberger/Wilson Missouri Master Gardener Endowment Fund, c/o Darcy wells, 2-4 Agriculture Bldg, univ. of Mo, Columbia Mo 65211 (573-882-9003); or Plant A Row for the Hungry, Garden Writers Association Foundation, 10210 leatherleaf Ct., Manassas, VA 20111 (or www.gardenwriters.org).

There must be a garden in heaven that needs you.The world of horticulture is a smaller place with Jim Wilson gone.
—Gerald Burke

Jim was the very first celebrity person I interviewed when I started writing my weekly garden column in 1989. He was gracious, warm, personable and put my rookie jitters at bay. What earned him high marks for me was that he always remembered my name.
—Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

The amazing Mississippi native son, Jim Wilson, was the first person of his stature that I ever interviewed on the radio live. I lost my media virginity and my heart at the same time. He was kinder than he had to be, as is the case with the greats in this business. Dancing with him at GWA karaoke was a treat I will miss.

My Jim story began in 1997 when I attended my first GWA symposium in Boston. He encouraged me to spread the word about growing vegetables, as I had just begun my stint as garden editor at woman’s Day magazine. When I moved to Illinois from Texas the next year, I plunged into organizing PAR statewide.
—Doreen Howard

One of my favorite moments came from something Jim said regarding PAR to an audience “and if you grow flowers, but no vegetables, think of contributing these to your local soup kitchen. For how often do those who frequent a soup kitchen have the opportunity to dine with flowers on the table?”
—Rose Marie Nichols McGee

Memorial plans are still being decided, but his family in California and Janie hope to have a memorial service here in Columbia in a couple of weeks and then, per his request, have his ashes placed in the Veterans' Cemetery in Memphis, TN near his brother who was killed in WWII. I will be happy to let you know about services as those plans firm up. Thank you all for your kindness and friendship over the years.

Sadly,
Janie Mandel

Handout for April 2010 Neighborhood Gdn Tour

2009-11-19T22:28:00.001-05:00

Dunleith Garden Tour Eddie & Linda Rhoades 667 Longwood Court

You will notice there is no front lawn, it's all one big mulch bed. Why should I waste my life cutting grass? Plus lawn mowers are like little cars that burn gas and oil and give off emissions not to mention lawns need other maintenance like watering, fertilizing, edging and raking. Then if you have a lawn service you are really contributing to the pollution of the planet because they spray poisons, not because you have a problem, but to prevent your having a problem. About those little signs they put out, bees and toad frogs can't read. So when is the last time you saw a honeybee or a toad frog? This garden's focus is on edible landscaping. Of course there are flowers but notice the cold hardy pineapple guavas, pawpaws, seedless American persimmon, Oriental persimmon, English walnut, mulberries, blueberries, figs, kiwi, pears, pomegranates, two types of cold hardy citrus, Shiitake mushroom logs (notice the clusters of short vertical stumps in back, that's them), two types of edible fruit dogwood, maypops, muscadines and jujubes. Some of these trees I grafted myself. Others are the very best varieties to be found anywhere. Besides the fruit trees we grow vegetables: usually okra, tomatoes, asparagus, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, collards, squash, zucchini, peppers, herbs, butternut squash, melons and others.
There are a few elements of whimsy and yard art that I try to keep confined to the back yard.
To establish a wildlife habitat I have bird feeders, bird houses, water sources and brush piles. Some of the brush piles also function as compost piles. In the Fall I gather bags of leaves from the neighborhood to use all over the yard for smothering weeds. Since leaves develop lift and blow around I add a sprinkling of pine straw to stop this and for esthetics. You might also notice the rain barrel where I capture rainwater and transfer it to gallon milk jugs. These come in handy during our inevitable dry spells. Some of the plants I grow are more for wildlife than human consumption: chokeberry - aronia arbutifolia, beautyberry - calicarpia Americana, both purple and white, elderberries, poke weed, mayhaw, crossvine for hummingbirds and crabapples. I plan to add heartnuts and a bee hive. I am not so much gardening for show as I am gardening for myself. I don't grow anything that has to be dug up and taken in to over-winter. I have been a Master Gardener for 30 years. Come visit me on my website at
http://www.bittersweetgardens.com. I also have two CDs released with a gardening song on each.

THE ORGANIC BUZZWORD

2009-02-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

There is an organization of organic gardeners and there is even a national magazine called Organic Gardening. Their precepts are honorable and good but, like most things, we don’t “do” it, we “overdo” it. I’ll start with the most ludicrous case: I recieved a catalog in the mail that advertizes their seeds as being organic. I emailed them and asked what makes their seeds organic and they replied that they were taken from organic plants. Say what? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As far as I am concerned ”ALL” seeds are organic. There is no pesticide that can carry over a generation through a seed. So therefore what their claim amounts to is a marketing ploy. That’s right, if your product is labled organic you can charge more for it. So it’s not about safety and wholsomeness, it’s about money. Even more absurd was the Paste magazine advertisement I read for cigarettes made from organic tobacco. So you’re going to buy a theoretically more healthy product to give yourself emphysema and cancer? Now the question comes to mind as I wander through a Farmer’s Market and see a product labled organic, is it naturally organic or is it certified organic. Now don’t be afraid but I must tell you the government has gotten in on the act. There are precise regulations on what determines certified organic. For three or four years you must monitor not only the amount of pesticides and fertilizing and sprays you use in your garden but also your neighbor’s gardens. The fact that this country could (at one time) raise more food than we could eat is what helped us become a great wealthy nation with stocks of food available for us to store and to sell to other countries. During this time we used lots of chemical fertilizers. We also used lots of terrible poisons. Thanks to Rachael Carson, author of Silent Spring, we no longer use DDT but you can bet that before it was taken off the market a lot was probably stockpiled by farmers because they thought it was necessary. I’m sure it has all been used up by now but there are other poisons on the market and there are no regulations on who can buy it nor how much they can buy. I’m the first to admit we did a lot wrong back then but where is Rachael when we need her? Who is going to say to the homeowners of America “You are responsible for the price of food going up because you have a lawn service.” Let me explain: It’s okay to have someone cut your grass or blow your leaves into the storm sewer ( I suppose), but these companies, in order to make more money, also spray your lawn with chemicals. Is it because you have a problem? No, it’s to PREVENT your ever having a problem. Think about how there are less and less honeybees not to mention I never see toad frogs anymore or June bugs. Could it be because of all that unnecessary spraying of poison? Oh but these companies put out little signs warning that the lawn has been sprayed. As soon as the bees and frogs learn to read everything will be okay. And what about these guidelines to spray Sevin and other chemicals in orchards sometime around petal drop and at certain late hours when all the bees are supposed to be back at the hive. Has anyone studied this to see if it’s 100% effective? I know for a fact some bees are too far from the hive when it gets late so they spend the night inside a flower and resume working the next day. And so, the little bit of poison they track back to the hive weakens it. Multiplied by lots of bees you have a collapse of their system. The frogs are eating bugs that have crawled across the lawn and coated themselves with poison. Then it gets into th e water supply and the food chain. Can our scientists not figure this out? I guess it's like global warming, some scientists say it's happening, some say not. When something like this is written it brings down the wrath of the great chemical companies who have lots and lots of money and lawyers and scientists and politicians on their side. But I say to you, my fellow Americans “What part will you play in this?”
Eddie Rhoades

Trivia and Severe Water Shortage

2007-12-20T21:05:00.001-05:00

Trivia questions:
1 What is the world's largest commode?
2 How many chinese do we need?
3 Does Georgia have a water shortage?
4 Can you name one animal that is becoming extinct?

Trivia answers:
1 The ocean
2 Evidently billions
3 No, we have plenty of water, we just have too many people
4 Me neither, I can't think of a single animal on the verge of extinction but if there are any I'm sure the government is handling the problem.

About The Drought -
It's funny how I can be out in the garden and think of lots of things I want to say but later when I get back inside I can't remember them. I may hop and skip around a bit here but that's why we named it Eddie's RAMBLING Blog. We are in what is classified as an extreme drought and it was all I could do this summer to keep my valuable plants alive. Reduced to its lowest common denominator I could say we have plenty of water, problem is we have too many people. Not only are people suffering but plants and other animals as well. Be sure to keep birdbaths and other water sources clean and filled during this critical time. You and I can walk inside and have a drink of water but plants are rooted to one spot, they can't do that. You might try digging in some crystal polymers like Water Grabber or other brands. Pike nursery has this product mixed with fertilizer. You don't want that. The fertilizer would only increase water needs. Be sure to presoak the crystals before you dig them in. Also, you can add more mulch to keep moisture from evaporating from the soil surface. I have greatly reduced the size of my lawn and you can do the same. A side benifit of a smaller lawn means less mowing naturally, but it also means more growing space for flowers, shrubs and trees. Me, I'm installing two rain barrels. Every little bit makes a difference.

STARBUCKS

2007-01-01T12:20:00.001-05:00

I don't drink much coffee myself, maybe a half cup of decaf a day but I often frequent Starbucks because they have a program of bagging up used coffee grounds and giving them away. I take these easy-manageable size bags home and sometimes I spread them around individual plants and occasionally I will add some to my compost pile. I look at it as free organic matter to enrich my garden soil. It may not have high numbers in the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium ratings but earthworms love it and they make a tremendous difference in soil health and viability. If gardeners weren't using this by-product then it would simply go to waste in a landfill. Someone at Starbucks had to make a decision to initiate this program (probably after local gardeners kept asking for used grounds) and go to the trouble and expense (those waterproof bags aren't free) to provide this service. It is little things like this that make a big difference in conservation. It shows respect for people and the planet and for this I thank you Starbucks.

A Tribute To Jim Wilson

2006-11-15T13:45:00.000-05:00

Jim,I really enjoyed your speech at the GA Master Gardener convention in Augusta. You mentioned how it got away with you when a lady came up to you once and said she loved you - but we all do. You are a national treasure and people just like to be in your presence. Besides being a gardener I think you are best defined as being a Southern gentleman. Your story of how a teacher demeaned you the work you turned in for writing an assignment where she deemed it was too good for the likes of you, remained with me. It is a shame some teachers do things like that and do not recognize talent early on and encourage it. I also remember how you said “We weren’t poor but we shot every rabbit and caught every fish and picked every berry for miles around so we would have something to eat.”
I know you are a prolific author, past president of the Men's Garden Clubs Of America, past president of the Garden Writer's Association Of America, host of the Victory Garden for many, many years, spokesman for Fafard Soil and garden promoter extraordinare and a lot more that I don't even know about.
I hope with your move to Missouri you can simplify your life and do some of the things YOU want instead of trying to satisfy the demands of everyone else. I am glad you have found Janie to share your life and bring each other joy, you certainly deserve it.

I remain one of your greatest fans,
Eddie Rhoades

A Memorable Day In Mexietta

2006-09-03T11:23:00.000-04:00

A Glorious Day
It is a Thursday here in Mexietta, Georgia. The Temperature for today will be in the 80s and the lows are predicted to be in the mid 60s. If you are from the north and are reading this please don't take it as an open invitation to come on down because what with everyone in Mexico moving here we are approaching full capacity. I often have the thought of "how many people does the planet need?" I can just see the earth a few million years from now as the then dominant upright reptile with opposable thumbs and the power of speech says "Digging through the strata we find there was a time when monkey-like creatures dominated the world." "Due to catostrophic conditions they became extinct." "We believe that due to a flaw in the earth's rotation it swung too close to the sun for thousands of years and all the ice caps melted causing the oceans to rise 400 feet which wiped out many, many species and life forms." "Some of our scientists feel that the ice melt age was somehow caused by emissions from machines these creatures used for transportation but of course they are in the minority."
All of this is purely conjecture and futuristic. Meantime, I am not going to worry about the future of mankind or even this planet we live on - it is a beautiful day and I intend to spend it outside playing in the dirt and admiring the 'Vulcan' magnolia that is blooming while I graft my pawpaw trees.

Heronswood Has Closed !

2006-05-31T19:29:00.000-04:00

Just a few years ago the Garden Writers convened in Washington state and one of the highlights of our trip was a ferry ride out to Bainbridge Island to Heronswood where we spent the day. We also visited the garden of Little and Lewis. I have great memories and photos of that trip. One would hope that beauty would be permanent but the adage is true "The only thing constant is change." Details in the article below:

The front page of the Seattle Times has a feature article about the sudden closing of Heronswood Nursery, a beloved institution here in the Puget Sound region and to plant lovers across the country.
Burpee, who bought the nursery from Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones six years ago, is moving the inventory to Doylestown, Pennsylvania and selling the property.
We're all a little stunned, and wonder what will happen to the beautiful gardens that Dan and Robert have developed.

Links to the articles in the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003029627_heronswood31m.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/272206_heronswood31.html

Karen L. Preuss, Library Manager
Elisabeth C. Miller Library
UW Botanic Gardens
University of Washington

Returned Mail?

2006-05-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

Not about gardening but someone voted on who I look like and there's no way to respond except here.
-----Original Message-----
From: webserv@freeweb02.slb.mindspring.net, SIZE=128@unspecified-domain
Subject: Vote

Dear Eddie,
I think you look the most like: The Incredible Hulk
it is the green thing

Dear ....uh..... Voter,
Thank you for your compliment. The Hulk is not a bad looking guy and I seem to have a penchant for green (maybe you do too but I will be discreet and not ask). My home page did feature a full size copy of my CD but since my site was entered in the Garden Writers competition I put my green hair picture back up to keep the site less focused on music and more on myself and gardening. The judging is over now and I didn't win. I don't think I'll enter again as that was the third year and it costs $35 to enter.
By the way, I will be playing at the Atlanta Brewing Company May 17th from 5:30 to 7 pm. Stop by. This is actually a paying gig - $40 and a case of beer. Though I don't drink beer anymore I can use it to stock my bar. It's just a little homemade bar in my basement where Noah and I hang out.
Yesterday, Saturday, may 6th, I worked at the Mexietta (formerly Marietta) garden club Plant Sale and from there I walked to the Farmer's Market then to the square for their festival. I handed out pens with my bittersweetgardens.com logo on them to all who would take one. It was a long but sunny day.
I need someone to go to CD baby and write a review of my CD. I could do it but it's hard to be subjective about my own music. Just go to www.cdbaby.com and key in my album title "Last Man Standing" or artist name "Eddie Rhoades" listen to the short clips and write a review. It would be best if it was written by someone who hs the complete CD.
I hear the garden calling me. I must go and piddle even though there is real work to be done such as grafting about 100 persimmon seedling rootstocks to named cultivars of both Oriental and American persimmons.
If more people would comment on my posts I would write more frequently.
Boy, I am chatty today.
Eddie

New Kid In Town

2006-01-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

Ty Pennington,
Evidently TV doesn't pay as much as I had supposed, so if you will kindly send me your mailing address I will send you Two free combs: one to carry with you and one to keep as a spare in case you lose the first. That is unless of course you are going for the Don King of gardening look, in which case you have succeeded. It looks like you presently comb your hair with an egg beater. To be fair, let's put it to a vote:
Those that like your crappy hairdo: 0
Those who think it sucks: 1 (me)

THEORIES

2005-10-02T10:31:00.000-04:00

A friend said he didn't believe in the theory of evolution so I said I believed I could clarify it for him. I took him to the top of a ten story building and told him to look over the side. As he did so, I shoved him off. When he had fallen about half way I shouted out "remember, gravity is a theory too."

Decisions

2005-06-18T19:56:00.000-04:00

The Garden Writers convention was coming up and I needed to decide if I was going to go. As a quality of life event these things are wonderful if they are not spoiled by airline hassles, but they are very expensive for someone who is retired from a factory job. I finally decided to spend my retirement money and go to Vancouver so I started practicing my karaoke as I am really there for the party. I had a great time there - saw old friends, met new people, saw out-of-this-world gardens, drank lots of wine, attended a fantastic Trade Show, attended several very interesting programs and brought home a few product samples and new plants.
Tomorrow night my brother and I are playing at a local Border's Book Store. I hoped this will be a good venue for promoting and selling my CDs but evidently not. I am just not good at marketing.
On the home front my garden is on a pace to be completed oh, maybe 20 years after I'm dead and gone. I have ordered 50 persimmon seedlings and hope to graft them to named varieties of both American and Asian persimmons. If everything goes well I should have some ready for sale in the Spring of 2006 or later.

Just For Your Information...

2004-12-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

What happens at BittersweetGardens, Stays At BittersweetGardens.

Howdy Y'all

2004-09-04T09:03:00.000-04:00

The Garden Writers Association was in Washington state a couple of years ago and I was attending the Trade Show. I approached a booth with two young women and said "How're y'all doing?" They giggled and said to each other "He said y'all." I felt like someone out of Mayberry. Later some different ladies laughed when I pronounced the L in salmon. It is a Southern thing to pronounce things like they are spelled: I ran. if it's spelled Iran then we're going to say I ran. If you want it pronounced differently then spell it Eron. It irks me when a waitress says to me and my wife "you guys ready to order?" One of us is obviously not a guy. Used to you could tell who was a Southerner and who was a northerner just by who said y'all and who said you guys (yes I know I capitalized Southerner and not northerner) but nowdays what with incessant TV watching, everybody like talks as if they were from California, ya know?
I grew up believing y"all to be a perfectly acceptable, non-gender contraction for you all. Of course I will admit there are those of us who say y"all when talking to only one person. This is gramatically incorrect. Then there are those who will say "I'm not just talking to y'all, I'm talking to all Y'all." Sounds redundant doesn't it? I looked up redundant in the dictionary and it was in there twice. Barbecue. Now there's a good old Southern multi-purpose word: I'm gonna take this barbecue (meat) out to the barbecue (grill) and barbecue (cook) it. And people say we talk funny in the South. Bless their hearts, they just don't know any better.

I'm Dead

2004-08-27T14:33:00.000-04:00

A Mister Gary Dorsey from the Atlanta Journal called and wanted to do an article on bloggers in the Metro Atlanta area. We had a nice long conversation and I was very open and honest with him -maybe too open and honest. I got to thinking about it later and thought if he prints everything I said I'm dead. Dead, I'm telling you, and it's all my fault. I told him how I sometimes go to Crystals or to McCrackens (McCrackens on Monday and Crystal's on Tuesday) for their open mic night. Many times I don't stay out too late (or drink too much) but occasionally it may be after midnight (literary license here) before I head home. I am old enough to realize you have to be careful in this type of atmosphere even though the owner of Crystal's told me there has NEVER been a fight there. I suppose it could be because the place is so small there's not enough room to swing a punch. The real reason is most everybody knows everybody there. In fact, Billy the bass player said they all know each other so well there's only one DNA for all of them. That's one of the good things about a bar atmosphere, the humor.
I told Gary I sometimes play my original songs and occasionally there will be garden groupies come to hear me sing. I am a Master Gardener and Master Gardeners get to be mentors for a new intern every year. This gives me the opportunity to corrupt at least one person every year. You only live once.
I love to sing my songs and I love the audience to sing along. I even like to get up and sing backup with other musicians. I believe in music.
Garden in the daytime, music at night, what more could you ask for except a cure for hangovers and maybe a bottle of smart pills.
Gary asked me about other peoples blogs and I said I never read them. I never write about religion or politics but I will occasionally slip a sexual innuendo in there, sometimes hidden, sometimes not. I made a decision not to make my blog interactive. If anyone has feedback they can email me.
Of the blogs I have written so far my favorites are:
TITLE..................ARCHIVE DATE
She Loves Me, She..... 1/18/2004
Fun Day 1/10/2004
Flower Show Individuality 2/22/2004
You Read It Here First 4/7/2004

Gary has to run his article by an editor and I hope I don't come out looking too stupid but if I do it's my own fault. Sometimes I hate being me.

Things Change

2004-05-08T20:37:00.000-04:00

When I was younger I was a human dynamo. I had boundless energy and referred to myself as Mighty Mouse. With time I had to admit that I was slowing down a bit. And now I confess I am beginning to fall apart. The only thing constant is change and I don't always deal with change well. I went to my daughters house to prepare her a vegetable garden. I cranked up the tiller and went about 5 feet before the tiller quit. Being in the same frame of mind that I could do anything as before, I finished digging her entire plot by hand with a shovel. That was several months ago and my legs and hips are still bothering me all day every day so don't ask me how I'm doing 'cause I might tell you. People are actually kinder to you and more tolerant of you if you are walking with a cane plus they are less likely to ask you to do stuff. So there are benefits to being temporarily crippled (can we still use that word or has it been removed from the dictionary of political correctness?) I think if I could lose a little weight it would help. I spoke to a good looking blonde lady the other day who said she wanted to lose 10 pounds. I told her I would take those ten pounds if she would let me choose the precise pounds I wanted. As expected she did not agree to this constraint. I'm not too old to cut the mustard it's just that mustard is a discontinued menu item.

What A Week

2004-05-02T14:21:00.000-04:00

Saturday and Sunday April 24 & 25th I was a vendor at the Jonquil Festival in Smyrna, Monday Ivan Tatum and I went to nurseries on a rainy day and bought supplies such as 5 different types of annuals, containers, Mini-nuggets, Natures Helper, sand, perlite, cow manure, water grabber, lime, and then delivered them to the 3rd floor classroom for tomorrows class. Tuesday we brought in all the trowels, coffee filters, shovels, buckets, tarps, wheelbarrow and more for our Container Gardening class of 35 seniors. It took a while to clean up the remaining mess when class was over. Wednesday Ivan and I drove to Blairsville for an all-day gardening symposium where I was a speaker. Thursday I rehearsed my next talk, practiced guitar and packed for two upcoming events. Friday April 30 my brother Robert and I played at Borders Bookstore in Atlanta - came home and unpacked the music gear then loaded up the gardening stuff. It was 12:30 before I got to bed. Saturday morning back up at 6 AM and on the road to Dawsonville Ga where I was a speaker and a vendor at the Arts In The Garden symposium. What a week! Sunday May 2nd and I am resting and wondering why I put myself through all that stuff. I have been so busy that I have neglected my own garden to the point that when a female fellow Master Gardener asked when would be a good time for her to come over and see my garden I said "At night."

You read it here first

2004-04-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

Just look at the date this was posted - April 7th 2004. That will be the first time someone commented that those garden rocks with the sayings like: love, truth, beauty, peace, solitude, and such should have a negative counterpart. Why not have garden stones that say something like, disease, pestilence, paranoia, drought, erosion , death, depression, mildew, and rot ? I'm sure you can think of others and some would agree that we must seek a balance in these things. Someone, somewhere, will take this idea and make some money on it. What do you think?
On a different topic I notice that a lot of the present blogs read like calendar advertisements. To read the more amusing ones look at the ones that have been archived. Again, I would appreciate some feedback by email.

Just A Feeling

2004-03-08T19:16:00.000-05:00

Kill all the Spammers, let God sort them out.

Power Point Slide Show

2004-02-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

The webmaster used voodoo magic to put his mojo on the iMac and post my two slide shows. One is about the Garden Writers and the other is about Cullowhee. I have an article about Garden Writers at http://www.mindspring.com/~erhoades/writings/gwaa/index.htm
and an article about Cullowhee http://www.mindspring.com/~erhoades/writings/cullowhee/index.htm which gives some background to the slide presentations. The link for the PP slides are accessible from the BittersweetGardens.Com home page or at this link http://www.mindspring.com/~erhoades/slideshow/index.htm. Feedback is hard to come by but Beth Woodward wrote the following poem about the Cullowhee (Native Plant) slide show.

I see Paula
I see me
And Walter Cook
At Cullowhee

I see gourds
and more than
One tree

Bug eyed
Folks
At Cullowhee.

I see green things
I see THE
Place I'd really
Like to be.

I Told You I Was Sick

2004-02-06T09:57:00.000-05:00

Once when I was layed off from my job at Lockheed for a year I worked at my Dad's printing shop when my younger brother still lived at home. I stopped by a Feed & Seed store on the way home and bought two grocery bags full of annual rye grass seed. Dad and I put sweet gum balls and pine cones on the front lawn to spell out in huge letters my brothers name "BOB" and sprinkled the seeds over this. Then we picked up the pine cones and stuff and watered the grass which was brown from the winter cold. Within a week you could see tiny bright green blades coming up. By the second week the name "BOB" was so prominent on the lawn that cars were slowing down to take a look. Dad had a big grin on his face at that practical joke we pulled. Today my brother jokes that he might take some rye grass seed over to the cemetery and spell "BILL" on dads gravesite.

Shameless Namedropping

2004-01-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

Let me tell you who was seated at my table at the Reception at Callaway Gardens; Linda Copeland, author of “Who In The World Is Nellie R Stevens?” Paula Refi, editor, writer and Landscape Designer, Lindy Broder, President of the Georgia Perennial Plant Association and her mother, Lucinda Hutson, speaker and author of “We’re Cooking Now”, Hank Bruno, Trail Manager for Callaway, Greg Grant, speaker and co-author of “The Southern Heirloom Garden” , my enchanting wife Linda and myself. This was exciting, hanging out with such famous people. Stopping by to chat were Dr. Allan Armitage, author and famous for many things like introducing 'Homestead Purple' verbeana and 'Marguarita' sweet potato to the trade. Also stopping by was Lee Ann White, author of "Front Yard Gardens" and past editor of Fine Gardening magazine. It was thrilling to be in the company of the elite of the garden world. Though one or two may not be known outside the south, around here they're famous.

MORE STUFF

2004-01-18T10:05:00.002-05:00

I have been encouraged to keep my blog more current and I have been assured that anything I write would be acceptable. Last Friday evening I drove to Newnan, got a room at the Holiday Inn Express (I learned the word "Express" means no bar, no restaurant) and proceeded to play the guitar and get snockered in my room. Hey, I admit it, I'm human. There is still no known cure for a hangover but thank goodness I was not a speaker the next day at the Georgia State Master Gardener symposium.
This all day affair started with Dr. Allan Armitage and hearing him was well worth the trip. I don't take notes at these things like I used to. Sometimes I don't even look at the handout but this time I made notes in the margin of our handout during Armitage's talk for the plants I MUST have. Don't get between me and these plants at the nursery. I would guess there was around three to four hundred attendees with the majority being female with a great many being as lovely as any flower. I had better stop on that subject before someone gets the wrong idea (or the right idea). These events are an excellent place to socialize with outstanding gardeners. A small crowd of us gathered around to talk to famous garden writer Hal Massie who is a great American and will someday soon write a gardening book that will be one of the best on the market. While I was away my wifus, who has been gently requesting for some time that I clean my office, took the initiative and cleaned it for me. It looks great but I don't know where anything is anymore.
COMING UP - My friend Ivan Tatum who is my great gardening buddy is always volunteering me for stuff. We often go to symposia together and I tease that we are the Mutt and Jeff of gardening, or the Dumb and Dumber. Anyway, Ivan volunteered me for a part in a play. I will be the drunken doctor on a cruise ship - a role I have been studying for all my life. This coming weekend I am off to Callaway for their annual symposium. It is a beautiful and magical place to go anytime of the year. Very quiet and inspiring plus their symposia has the best speakers in the country, all close to home. The Garden & Patio Show is the following week and it really is close to me - just a couple of miles away and I can walk into a world where spring has already arrived. For those who have never heard me play and sing, I will be at the Borders Bookstore on the East/West Connector the last Friday of this month: Jan 30, 2004 from 8 to 10 PM. Come hear me sing some of my original songs.

Rambling

2004-01-09T19:08:00.000-05:00

I am visitor number 23,000 to my own site so I guess I owe myself a prize. I think I will take myself out to dinner. I may take my guitar with me. There used to be an old country song that went "when my pickup truck's loaded down with chicken manure she rides just like a Cadillac." That's a moot point now that Cadillac makes pickup trucks. I saw one on the road just today and thought "now there goes someone with more money than sense." A truck is not for show it's for using to do things where it more than likely will get scratched and dented. The topic says Ramble so here I go - I had three articles in the last issue of the Cobb County Master Gardener newsletter and when I showed up for the next meeting I have never had so many people smile and speak to me. One submission was a quiz about trees. One gentleman told me he only solved three of them, then he found the answers on the back page and got them all. Short notice but I will be speaking at the Atlanta Flower Show - Oops, excuse me, that's the Southeastern Flower Show. And the name change for the airport is Hartsfield/Jackson Airport. We frankly don't give a .... what they name it, we will always call it the Atlanta airport. I will be playing (assisting another guitarist) at the Borders Bookstore on the East/West Connector January 30 at 8 PM. That is the last Friday of this month. And I will now close with the title of a famous country song "I'm so miserable without you it's like having you here."