A Jubilee Parade for Labor Day: Zinnias

Post 50

I love zinnias. They are tough yet easy-going; sweet and exuberant; individualist yet cooperative  determined and brilliant.  And they get the job done.

Even though I have time, money and land, I can only create a garden because Nature (or Nature's God) has created life-- my own and that of plants.

My job is choosing the plants that will thrive and create beauty. But it's the plants that make it happen. You could say they are dependent on me,-- but only if you add that I am dependent on them.

So Happy Labor Day to all the zinnias of this world. May they (we) be properly paid for our honest labor that keeps this world functioning.

It is our productivity that produces value,

A fair portion of which value we have a right to,

And a duty to use that value,

So that we ourselves help create a better, more functional, more sustainable, more beautiful world.

We are all sub-creators, whatever our position in life.

Even when we think we do not have the power,

Even when we seem done,

 Until we return from where we came, and truly learn what our imperfect efforts,

 What our imperfect love,

Has created.

Happy Labor Day

Mycobacterium vaccae or Why Gardening is Good for You

Post 49

What if we are built to live in the natural world? What if our bodies need to be in the natural world in order to function properly?

I started this blog for several reason, one of which was to explore how the garden gardens the gardener. I thought it might have to do with smells plants produce. I was half right. It looks like it has to do with the smells the soil produces.

Enter Wikipedia--

"Mycobacterium vaccae is a nonpathogenic species of the Mycobacteriaceae family of bacteria that lives naturally in soil. Its name originates from the Latin word, vacca (cow), since it was first cultured from cow dung in Austria. Research areas being pursued with regard to killed Mycobacterium vaccae vaccine include immunotherapy for allergic asthma, cancer, depression, leprosy,] psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and tuberculosis.

There are scientists who believe that exposure to Mycobacterium vaccae may work as an antidepressant because it stimulates the generation of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain. More specifically, it induces the neurogenesis of neurons that produce those two compounds...

Research, as of 24 May 2010, has shown that when Mycobacterium vaccae was injected into mice, it stimulated some growth of neurons. It also increased levels of serotonin an decreased levels of anxiety. "We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice", says Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, who conducted the research with her colleague Susan Jenks."

Well Holy Cow! Skeptical of Wikipedia? How about The Economist, Apr 4th 2007?

“BACTERIA cause disease. The idea that they might also prevent disease is counterintuitive. Yet that is the hypothesis Chris Lowry, of Bristol University, and his colleagues are putting forward in Neuroscience. They think a particular sort of bacterium might alleviate clinical depression

The chance observation that Dr Lowry followed up to arrive at this conclusion was made by Mary O'Brien, an oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Dr O'Brien was trying out an experimental treatment for lung cancer that involved inoculating patients with Mycobacterium vaccae. This is a harmless relative of the bugs that cause tuberculosis and leprosy that had, in this case, been rendered even more harmless by killing it. When Dr O'Brien gave the inoculation, she observed not only fewer symptoms of the cancer, but also an improvement in her patients' emotional health, vitality and general cognitive function.

This result is intriguing for two reasons. First, it offers the possibility of treating clinical depression with what is, in effect, a vaccination. Indeed, M. vaccae is considered a bit of a wonder-bug in this context. Besides cancer, and now depression, it is being looked at as a way of treating Crohn's disease (an inflammation of the gut) and rheumatoid arthritis.

Second, it opens a new line of inquiry into why depression is becoming more common. Two other conditions that have increased in frequency recently are asthma and allergies, both of which are caused by the immune system attacking cells of the body it is supposed to protect.

One explanation for the rise of these two conditions is the hygiene hypothesis. This suggests a lack of childhood exposure to harmless bugs is leading to improperly primed immune systems, which then go on to look for trouble where none exists.

In the case of depression, a similar explanation may pertain. If an ultra-hygienic environment is not stimulating the interaction between immune system and brain, some people may react badly to the consequent lack of serotonin. No one suggests this is the whole explanation for depression, but it may turn out to be part of it."

And  a shout out the Plant Delights (one of the best mail order nurseries around,) newsletter, which alerted me to this.

“In some fascinating gardening research, new studies from Sage College of New York confirm a 2007 study from Bristol University and University College London that dirt is indeed a great anti-depressant. Many of us have known this for years, but we just didn’t know why...guess that’s why I don’t make the big bucks. As it turns out, a soil-borne bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, acts as an anti-depressant by causing brain cells to produce high levels of the happy hormone, serotonin. Serotonin occurs naturally in the body from the gut to the brain, and plays a particularly important role in mood. Low serotonin levels have been linked to anxiety, depression, aggression, OCD, bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome...who knew? Mycobacterium vaccae has already been used medically in cancer patients to increase their quality of life. The next time you hear that line about not being in the mood, grab your significant other, sans gloves, and head for the garden to get dirty."

From Plants Delights Nursery Update August 2012

Is it possible we need to be around earth to be happy and well? It can be fun to sit around a computer and pound keys, but what if that is only what we want but not what we need?

Have I just veered off subject? Of course not.  

I just spent a weekend out on Long Island (if you want you can read about it, there is my other blog, http://lkbwbackyard.blogspot.com/) and once again was struck by how calmly invigorated I felt. Sorta like how gardening makes me feel.

Being by the seaside seems to make many people feel good. Besides the most obvious reasons, have you ever wondered why? This is from WebMD.com

“There's something in the air and while it may not be love, some say it's the next best thing -- negative ions. Negative ions are odorless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in certain environments. Think mountains, waterfalls, and beaches. Once they reach our bloodstream, negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our daytime energy.
Ions are molecules that have gained or lost an electrical charge. . They are created in nature as air molecules break apart due to sunlight, radiation, and moving air and water. You may have experienced the power of negative ions when you last set foot on the beach or walked beneath a waterfall. While part of the euphoria is simply being around these wondrous settings and away from the normal pressures of home and work, the air circulating in the mountains and the beach is said to contain tens of thousands of negative ions -- Much more than the average home or office building, which contain dozens or hundreds, and many register a flat zero.
"The action of the pounding surf creates negative air ions and we also see it immediately after spring thunderstorms when people report lightened moods," says ion researcher Michael Terman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York.
And for a whopping one in three of us who are sensitive to their effects, negative ions can make us feel like we are walking on air. You are one of them if you feel instantly refreshed the moment you open a window and breathe in fresh, humid air.
"You may be one of them if you feel sleepy when you are around an air-conditioner, but feel immediately refreshed and invigorated when you step outside or roll down the car window," Howard tells WebMD. "Air conditioning depletes the atmosphere of negative ions, but an ion generator re-releases the ions that air conditioners remove."

Even if you are skeptical of global warming (I am not,) there is no doubt that if we go on using our power over the earth to loot and disrupt her ecosystems, we may well be destroying one of our own best shots at joy. Once upon a time most humans lived as farmers, hunters and fishermen. They breathed in chemicals that allowed them to cope with their often brutal, dismal and uncivilized worlds. Now, many of us have civilization,-- but we are out of touch with what can make us happy.

I do not think that alienating ourselves from the natural world is what God had in mind when S/He (or, if you are not a Deist, however you think, de facto, we got  dominance,) gave us stewardship of this planet. 

 

Aren't we supposed to make of this place a garden? 

Find the Sweet Spot, Feel the Crape Myrtle Bass

Post 48

Camera found, charger fixed, images offered.

Brain still slow at moment  in terms of writing about garden stuff, so bear with me.

This pic gets me. The orangy maple and the red crape myrtle look like they have entwined into a heart.

Crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia) were entirely new to me when I moved down from New York, which is just a touch too cold for them. I have to admit, when they are allowed to get too sprawley I'm not sure I like them. It was seeing one in a friend's garden that turned me on to them.

A friend, Carrie Borgenicht has a lovely walled garden in South Philly and in the back, against the wall is a large lavender crepe myrtle. She has pruned it into a small multi-trunked tree, with the trunks forming long-stemmed curves up into foliage and bloom.Here is a picture of it on the left.

Inspired by the example of her garden, I put a crepe myrtle into my dream garden, and waited till I could find one I liked on sale.  End of season on sale, at the now expired Waterloo Gardens, I saw what I was looking for. I think my cultivar is Dynamite, the first true red to be hybridyzed (yes, sometimes I cannot resist.) Originally crape myrtles were only in soft colors. On the left you can see how I've trimmed up one of the trunks and made its charm focal with ornament.

At one point, around when I bought the myrtle, I actually thought I could limit myself to a red and white garden with maybe just a little pink thrown in (Hah)!  I am now glad for that happily failed idea--since it made me include strong color in the garden. 

Once red or orange is a presence in the garden,  things become  dynamic. It is too easy to do a pastel garden that fades out in bright sunshine. Philly is not tropical but it has intense, bright summers. For me intense colors seem right Or maybe I just like the challenge of putting together a lot of strong elements and  making them work.

There is part of me that thinks of the garden as music. Deep red, like the dark foliage in the  photo below, is the pulsing bass.

Plump white zings are the lead guitar

Pink and lavender are the middle instruments like rhythmn guitar and piano.

 Yellow, orange, peach and brown are the drums.

Blue is for moments of esctasy. 

Green is the whole range of aural frequencies

So, for me, one way to describe garden-making is to find a melody within, and then add outer harmony without letting it all go dull. Let it out, let it sing, make it real

Humidity on the Brain

Post 47

My mind is lazy as blue mud.

Inspiration minimal, camera woes continue and humidity is taking the humanity out of me. Want ocean. Want cool pellucid waters.  Want this--

 Got this instead, which granted, looks pretty good, even if it is an old pic from a few summers ago.
 

It shows a then small Pee Gee hydrangea on the left. If I had a camera you could see that he Pee Gee is now a tree a story high, 8 feet in breadth, and covered in long white blossoms that overhang upright red bistort (Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail,) a stand of which is pictured below.

Its a good combination. Add in, to the right and behind, a now two story tall, red crepe myrtle blooming like all heck, some white bistort (not sure of the variety) around the bowling ball bird bath,

And the orangy-chartruse red maple in front. It all works. ... as a recent pic would show.

I am researching a new camera, and I hope that in a few weeks I will be able to offer fresh pics. Till then I cannot decide whether I should try my best to keep things going or take an August hiatus.


Part of the fun of a blog is its immediacy. Using old, second-rate pics does not feel immediate.



Plus I have fallen in love with taking pictures. And am in withdrawal. Being able to make images gives me words. My childhood love of picture books is returned, made even better by added adult capabilities. 

 

So, I would rather be playing with goats on an Northern isle with a camera tucked in my pocket than here, but here I am and must remind myself not to be blinded to the beauty I am lucky enough to enjoy.

Above is one of the last shots I took with my dime store camera before it broke down. 

Till less humid times...