A walk-through the Des Moines Botanical Center

The other day over lunch, I took a walk to the Des Moines Botanical Center.

 
    

When is Home home?

On a Tuesday years ago, my family and I left Nevada, drove to Iowa, arrived on a Saturday. Although it was my first visit to the state, I started college that following Monday. During our cross country trip, we joked about the Midwest, the corn, pigs, farms, flat land; the typical joke one makes who has never lived in the Midwest or spent a significant amount of time here. Little did I know, I was on my way home.

“Aren’t you from Nevada?” Yes.

“Why would you want to live in Iowa?” Because it's beautiful.

“If I had the chance, I would leave.” Yeah, but you’d be back.

I have fielded these questions now for almost two decades. Once known as Jessica Montana from Nevada who lives in Iowa, I am now called an Iowan. I used to laugh at the former statement; in fact, take pride in having so many states in my salutation. As for the latter, I responded with an emphatic, “No! No I’m not!"

Though, now, I don’t know if I would object.

When is home home?

Last week, I went to lunch with two colleagues. While walking to one of our favorite restaurants, we spied a purple flower, perhaps considered a weed to most. Low to the ground, each flower was about two inches in diameter and a matching purple center. A colleague said, I think it's chicory. The three of us took a minute and collectively said, that's pretty. Huh? Interesting. A simple walk to a restaurant revealed beauty along a sidewalk.

Fast forward to later in the afternoon, a thunderstorm was rolling into downtown Des Moines. I checked the radar online; deep purples, bright reds, fiery oranges and yellows moved across the screen. Weather reports revealed the storm moving fast, west to east, with 70 mile per hour winds. In locations where it hit first, rain poured sideways.

A group of colleagues gathered near the windows to watch the storm move past our building. As we watched the gray anvil clouds move in, I said, “Gosh, it’s nice to see clouds.” A colleague responded, “Oh, that’s right. You’re from Nevada; you’re probably not used to clouds?” Immediately, another colleague answered for me, “Yeah, but she’s acclimated to Iowa by now.”

Josh Gates wrote, “Travel does not exist without home....If we never return to the place we started, we would just be wandering, lost. Home is a reflecting surface, a place to measure our growth and enrich us after being infused with the outside world.” See Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter.

The windows my colleagues and I stood in front of were my reflecting surface. Standing there, as if lightening struck in my brain...my home is simply the place I find beauty that fills my heart. It is not defined to the borders of a state...Montana, Nevada, or Iowa. It is not the length of employment, home ownership, number of years spent in one spot, friends, or bank accounts. And, I definitely hope it is not bright, shiny objects that catch my eye. Squirrel! Well, maybe some days it is. Yet, on most days, it is noticing the beauty of weeds decorate a sidewalk or thunder clouds swell over a downtown skyline. 

Maya Angelou wrote, “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” 
Years ago, I moved to Iowa. Little did I know, I would find my home here. Once my family and I poked at the corn growing along I-80; however, now I revel in knowing that the neighborhood raccoons peel back the husk to check if the kernels are ripe for eating. Beautiful!

When is home home...for you?

You guessed it...it's Chicory!

Nibble. Nibble. Said the raccoons.

Other Favorites…

“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.”
― James Baldwin,Giovanni's Room

“Home is a notion that only nations of the homeless fully appreciate and only the uprooted comprehend.” ― Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

“She didn't belong anywhere and she never really belonged to anyone. And everyone else belonged somewhere and to someone. People thought she was too wonderful. But she only wanted to belong to someone. People always thought she was too wonderful to belong to them or that something too wonderful would hurt too much to lose. And that's why she liked him-- because he just thought she was crazy.”
― C. JoyBell C.

"She was still hugging the cat. "Poor slob," she said, tickling his head, "poor slob without a name. It's a little inconvenient, his not having a name. But I haven't any right to give him one: he'll have to wait until he belongs to somebody. We just sort of took up by the river one day, we don't belong to each other: he's an independent, and so am I. I don't want to own anything until I know I've found the place where me and things belong together. I'm not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it's like." She smiled, and let the cat drop to the floor. "It's like Tiffany's," she said.
[...]
It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name.”
― Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's

Small Herb Garden

Cilantro on the left, Basil on the right!

So Close to Blooming

Happy Earth Day!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Rethink Earth Day!
Planting is just around the corner! So excited!
PS...I'm posting this via phone (test run), so we'll see how it goes!
Take care!

My Summer's Quest

My quest this summer is to learn about what is growing in the garden. I mean really learn. Right now I am in the phase of thinking everything is cool, pretty and just merely wonderful because Mother Nature is just neat. My next step, however, is to learn the what, how, when, and whys of the garden.

With that, I am starting with Rhubarb! If you're asking, Rhubarb?!? Really? Why? Well, it's early yet in the growing season and it's the one of few things growing brilliantly right now...so, yep, Rhubarb!

First off, who knew the leaves of rhubarb are toxic (the leaves contain high concentrations of oxalic acid crystals which can cause serious problems when eaten, causing the tongue and throat to swell, even prevent breathing)?!? I did not, but I've never really eaten the leaves either (thank goodness), but other parts of the plant have culinary uses (yum, strawberry-rhubarb pie) and medicinal (a laxative...not so yum). They are perrenial (I knew that), but I did not know they grow from short, thick rhizomes.

According to wikipedia (don't judge), "rhubarb is usually considered to be a vegetable; however, in the United States, a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was used in the United States as a fruit, it was to be counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction on imported rhubarb tariffs, as tariffs were higher for vegetables than fruits."

Outside of Wiki, there is a website specifically and solely dedicated to Rhubarb, The Rhubarb Compendium. This site features Rhubarb as a perrenial vegetable and is home to over 300 rhubarb recipes, from liquer to pies, breads to candy. Apparently, rhubarb "...originated in Asia over 2,000 years ago. It was initially cultivated for its medicinal qualities, it was not until the 18th century that rhubarb was grown for culinary purposes in Britain and America. Rhubarb is often commonly mistaken to be a fruit [see above] but rhubarb is actually a close relative of garden sorrel, and is therefore a member of the vegetable family. Rhubarb is rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber."

One of the coolest factors I learned about Rhubarb is the medicinal uses. According to the Rhubarb Compendium, the root can be used as an antiseptic, astringent, diuretic, laxative, purgative, tonic, and many others...





Week 1

Week 2

Yet, the most striking uses of rhubarb do not include ingestion, but everyday things around the house...cleaning your pots and pans, dying your hair, an insecticide. Visit The Rhubarb Compendium for edible and non-edible recipes! Enjoy!

Week 3



The Aquarius Who Wiggles through the Water

I have never enjoyed waking up...although, I am thankful I wake up but (God forgive me) I hate the process of waking up. Yet, every Saturday morning, I have the opportunity to go to a pool and teach adults how to swim, my labor of love. My love for swimming does not stem from getting paid to teach or my access to a pool but it is a hope of passing it along to another individual. I have learned swimming, or even just being comfortable in the water, is a lifelong investment no one can take away from you. It is your investment into your health, well-being and longevity (not to mention its ease on your body’s aches and pains).

I have swum all of my life. My mom had me in the pool at 6 months. From there, I became fish. I taught my grandparents when I was 8 years old how to dive to the bottom of our backyard pool using a nickel as bait. I taught swimming lessons at my hometown pool starting at 16, then off and on throughout college and now, after a brief haitus, today.

Aquarius babies are genuinely free spirit. Generally, they are known to be "friendly and humanitarian, honest and loyal, original and inventive, independent and intellectual." They are ruled and run with their emotions. Although I do not believe everything my daily horoscope tells me, I do believe there is some truth to being a free spirit, which probably explains my love for swimming. Swimming is the closest thing to flying as a person can get. And flying is the closest thing to being free from restraint as one can obtain.

Always having a pool, or the ocean, at my feet helped too. I was as tan as a brown leather purse, my hair as blond as California sand. I would pretend to be a mermaid, with legs glued together, wiggling my way through the water, holding my breath as long as possible. The light in the deep end of the pool was a porthole to The Mermaid City (see Aquarius’ are original and inventive). I remember watching the movie The Big Blue (1988) about a man who was more dolphin than human. I thought, hey I could do that…stubborn, silly Aquarius. My mom encouraged this love by letting me ride on her back while she dove deep under water. My aunt and I would play Sea Storm, our own made-up game where we sat on a floatation device and when one of us yelled “SEA STORM!” we would rock and tumble and flip the floatation device trying to throw the other off while trying to stay on.

While I might not include mermaid swimming or Sea Storm into my lessons, I can only hope my love of swimming transfers from me to other swimmers every Saturday morning (that’s the humanitarian side of me peeking through).

PS...does anyone see the irony that I'm an Aquarius baby who loves the water? Any lions out there who love to RRrroarrr! (sorry, bad joke!)

Thanks for reading!

A Winter Song*

She pulled the curtain aside to look into the dark blue night. From the golden comforts of her home, the snow seemed light years away. I don’t care; I’m going to do it, she thought, with a twinkle in her eye. Hastily, she pulled, shimmied and wiggled on her long john leggings, hoodie and wool socks. She grabbed her giant parka and ski cap from the hallway closet and, with gloves in hand, turned the doorknob and stepped outside.

With her body bundled in layers of thermal wear, only her face could feel the gentle yet chilling breeze say hello. As the moisture left her lips, she whispered ‘hello’ back. She looked left; she looked right. The day’s snow had fallen just in time for dinner. Her neighbors up and down the street were nestled in their homes. She was alone.

Without a cloud in the sky but with the help of the moon, the new snow glimmered, dazzled across the yard; as if snowflakes waved their jazz hands and sang, “bop, bang, dazzle, razzle, boom, pop” on a stage. She looked up and nodded. The stars noticed. They watched.

She stood listening to the tree branches swish and sway with the wind. She faintly heard car horns honk and squawk in the distant background. She laid down a top the soft snow and danced, moving her arms and legs with the imagined beat; up and down; up and down. The stars clapped in chorus; the flakes moved with her rhythm.

She enjoyed the lingering music as long as she could, until the chilling breeze wafted in, stinging her nostrils. It’s time to go inside. Then, it settled into her lungs. You must go inside. Too crisp. Too cold.

She delicately rose, carefully looking back at her gift. Satisfied with her creation, she looked up. The stars twinkled; thank you. She nodded and walked back into the house.

The stars enjoyed its new song, smiling at the snow angel she left for them.

*just trying something different

Winter is Coming

The weather in Central Iowa has been nothing short of beautiful lately. With sunny, warm days and cool nights this fall, the brightest colors explode from trees limbs, specifically, a lot of reds. And, with the dry climate, the fields of corn, soybeans and hay have their own color as well—a brilliant gold.

According to the State of Iowa Forestry Division: "The brightest displays of color occur with an early fall with bright sunny days and cool nights.  These conditions develop red pigments.  Cloudy days and warm nights will produce less brilliant colors because chlorophyll breaks down slowly and the red pigments are not formed quickly enough. Dry weather causes a greater buildup of sugars in the leaves, enhancing the production of the red pigments. Windy, rainy weather causes many leaves to fall prematurely, lessening the intensity of the display.  A killing frost will destroy the leaf cells and the coloration process will not function effectively."

Well, that killing frost is now upon us. With lower and lower temperatures predicted, the magnificant reds, golds, and greens will soon be replaced by varying shades of browns and grays. Winter time. Although it might not be as pretty outside during the winter (though this is up for debate for those snowbirds out there), you can definitely maintain a pretty indoor paradise with your plants.

If you do have outdoor plants you would like to keep over the winter, a few things to remember:

• Place your plant in a well-ventilated area but not directly under a heating vent. A heating vent will dry out your plant quickly. If you place your plant on the floor, be sure there is not a lot of cool drafts. Most plants do not like their roots (or, as I like to refer to them, their feeties) to get cold.
• Because the windows are closed more often during the winter, every few weeks or so, I dampen a towel and wipe the tops of the leaves. This helps clean the indoor dust off the plants throughout the winter, allowing your plant to "breathe" easy.
• Do not repot your plant over the winter. Because the winter is a slower growing seaso, repotting is more stressful than helpful. This includes fertilizing. Wait until spring to report or fertilize.
• Cut back on the watering. Watering becomes a little more tricky during the winter because you do not want your plant to get overheated, yet because there is not as much daylight, your plant is prone to overwatering and sogginess. If I give my plant a cup of water during the summer, then I typically cut back to 3/4 to 1/2 cup in the winter.

Please note, none of the above recommendations are scientifically-based (that I know of); they are merely tips and tricks I use to keep my plants healthy throughout the winter.

All the best. Stay tuned for the last updates regarding the 2011 Garden!

PS...as I have been developing this blog, of course, I have found so many other great bloggers who are wayyy ahead of the game than me. For example, one recently discovered and newly favorite blog is The Iowa Gardener! So close to this very blog name too...who knew...regardless, it just goes to show how wonderful gardening in Iowa truly is.

I have added the link to The Iowa Gardener to my Friends & Favorites. It is a wonderful website; chalkful of information. A great realization for me while reading its blog(s) is, while I do not know everything there is to know, I am on the right path to becoming a savvy gardener, which is encouraging.

Specifically, a few tips the Iowa Gardener highlights regarding caring for your plants over the winter include:

• "A few types of plants in pots can indeed survive all winter. Hibiscus, jasmine, rosemary, citrus trees, and others will often survive the winter if given plenty of light and humidity.
•  If you have any houseplants still out, bring them in. Even if they’re in a covered area, most don’t like cool temperatures. Rinse them off with a gentle spray of water from the hose or the shower to make sure you don’t bring in any bugs.
• If you have tender plants that are perennials in warmer climates, you can experiment with bringing them indoors for the winter. Hibiscus, jasmine, rosemary, citrus trees, and others will often survive the winter if brought indoors and given a sunny site and sometimes even under a grow light.
• Equally critical is protection from drafts and adequate humidity. Set the plants on a tray filled with pebbles and water to increase humidity around the plant, and keep in a room that is as cool (but not freezing) as possible, ideally around 50 degrees."

For a wintering checklist, visit Wintering Checklist from The Iowa Gardener.

Purple Coneflower, Summer 2010

Color at the Iowa State Fair

Shortly after attending the 2009 Iowa State Fair, I wrote a piece called It’s Iowa Nice (published December 2009). Yet this year, my focus at the fair was different. I focused on a specific location within the fair, rather than the people who visit, specifically, The Master Gardener’s Discovery Garden.

In a sentence...no...a paragraph, I could list a thousand, poetic words to describe the garden, yet, only one word truly paints a perfect picture of the garden: color. According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, color is “a specific combination of hue, saturation, and lightness or brightness.” Now, imagine every color ever flashed before your eyes: soft blues, strong reds, comforting purples, daring yellows, contrasting greens, shifty magentas, monochromatic pinks, and warm browns.

With that in mind, come with me. Imagine, sitting at the base of a tree on bench at 9am in the morning as I did that day. Rest your eyes. Open but rested, taking it all in. Notice Dorothy’s shiny ruby red slippers hang over her blue house; a miniature yellow cow painted with green and orange flowers on its belly stands in the children’s garden; larkspur creating an effective border, preventing an aggressive sea of red flowers from disrupting the calm brown ground; even iridescent dragonflies and black and yellow honey striped bees flit from stamen or carpel to the next. You’ll soon notice your ears and nose want to join in. Do you smell the softened mulch in the morning air? Can you hear the light dribble of water running its way through the makeshift stream?

Scenic beauty exists in the middle of the Iowa State Fair, where turkey legs, beer tents, carnival rides, and band members wear shimmering gold jackets sing their melodies. I hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I did.

Awww...Decorah, Iowa

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Decorah, Iowa.

Approximately 3.5 hours northeast of Des Moines (though, this is not precise for I slept for most of the ride), I knew it was located in a precious part of Iowa...along the Mississippi River and in the beautiful bluff country, which I was definitely excited to see again since extended absence.

Our first stop-The Winnesheik Hotel. A hotel with "21st Century Comfort and 19th Century Charm." It was exquisite. To describe the level of hospitality this hotel provides is easily identified in the three bookshelves that sit on each floor of the hotel. You can borrow any type of book you want at any time during your stay. If you do not finish it within the timeframe of your stay...take it with you; send it back when you are ready. Seriously! There is a note from the hotel left on the bookshelf. Fantastic!

During our three day adventure, we shopped along Water Street (downtown Decorah), hiked around Phelps Park, explored the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, which is a wonderful celebration of the Norweigian community and culture, and my all-time favorite, The Seed Savor Exchange, a non-profit organization that sits on 890-acres and "is dedicated to preserving and sharing heirloom seeds to preserve the world's heritage of plant diversity...maintains over 25,000 endangered vegetable varieties including 6200 tomatoes, 5100 beans, 1300 squash and 1100 varieties of lettuce...it also maintains 700 pre-1900 apple varieties in their Historic Orchard. Heritage Farms..."

I was a kid in a candy store. Seeds, books, garden decor EVERYWHERE...floor to ceiling! I definitely recommend checking out the website (provided above).

Until then, please enjoy some of my pictures from our visit. If you visit Decorah for yourself, please share your experience with me.

Sidenote: Many people think Iowa is merely endless fields of corn and feedlots of hog and cattle. It does have corn and hogs and cattle...fortunately, it also has rolling hills, bluffs, forests, prairies, wetlands, marshes, rivers, lakes, inland beaches. It is an amazing hodgepodge of nature.

New Discoveries

I discovered a new site today...The Iowa Native Plant Society. It is a simple forum for "plant enthusiasts, gardeners, and professional botanists to exchange ideas and information, and to work together to:

• encourage conservation and ethical use of Iowa's plants
• promote education about Iowa's plants, their habitats and cultural habits, and the preservation of these plants and their environment
• appreciate and enjoy Iowa's native flora"

I am especially appreciative of finding this website because this weekend I visited the Ledges State Park. We hiked through all sorts of vegetation for roughly three hours. Unfortunately, I realized, I had no idea what type of vegetation surrounds me. So between the IDOT Plant Profiler Roadway Living Trust Fund (see My Favorites) and the new-to-me Iowa Native Plant Society, hopefully I will be more aware of my surroundings because the traditional, "ooh, pretty."

For more information, I've added The Iowa Native Plant Society link to My Favorites. Check it out!

My Little Bit of Heaven

I have not had the opportunity to play in our garden for almost a month. My skin itched. My eyes watered. And, my heart longed to be in the best place on Earth...my little bit of heaven!

So, when I was finally able to garden, the first item to address...weeding; some much needed weeding! Between the wildflower bed, the garden and the area along the garage, it actually did not take us long to clean things out. The best part, though, is that we already started planning for next year!

Should we plant garlic this fall for next spring? Who knew you had to plant garlic in the fall, so it would come up next spring?

Perhaps, we will not plant squash next year? It takes over a good quarter of the garden. Though I must admit the spaghetti squash tasted A-MAZING!

Maybe not so much corn (well, that was my suggestion, anyway)? Eight rows of corn tends to take a good majority of the space we have; however, I think it is JC's bit of heaven.

Any suggestions?

The First Big Harvest

I stole a minute away from work(s) to play in the garden Saturday afternoon. Though it was 90 degrees outside, with a smidge (read: a lot) of humidity clinging to the air, I picked our first big harvest...about two dozen ears of corn, several squash, tomatoes, peppers and still more broccoli. Later that day, I ate two ears of corn. YUMMY! 

The vegetables seem to be loving this hot, wet summer. The foliage on the tomato planets continue to grow outside of their cages and the squash seem to be unable to align with the fence. Instead, their tentacles would rather crawl through and wrap around the corn. A friend told me that's how Native Americans used to grow corn and squash anyway--simultaneously and symbiotically--so we must be doing something right.

Tranquility...finally!

After a three week (or so) hiatus, I was finally able to get my hands dirty in our garden. I must say, JC has done an amazing job keeping things thriving! He's actually a much better gardener than I am. He knows all the tricks to keeping the weeds at bay, the corn standing tall, and the squash from waging war against everything within reach (they love to "coil" their grubby fingers on anything and everything in sight; see below).

You can no longer see the separation between the corn and squash

The afternoon I was able to finally garden was sunny and hot and humid. It was heaven. We pulled weeds and a few peppers to promote more growth. I find this is the lull time. So long as the veggies have sufficient space and water, they do not need much tending, especially after the grass clippings are down. The initital planting is over. Weeding is minimal. It is too soon to harvest. The lull time is the waiting period, in between the back-breaking work of planting at the beginning of the season to the rewarding period of harvesting.

The Absent Iowa Urban Gardener

JC has recommended I rename this blog to the Absent Iowa Urban Gardener. To be honest, I think he might be onto something.

In the last month or so, I have somehow acquired additional responsibilities leaving me nil to none garden time. My soil-free nails are growing back; I have absolutely no tan to speak of, even though the sun has been shining gloriously over the past several weeks; and, I have no new pictures to update the growth.



JC has been pulling up my slack and taking care of things in my absence.  With his sun-kissed tan, JC reports the pepper plants are beginning to "birth" baby peppers (with this humidity as of late, I am not surprised), and he did bring me four yummy cherry tomatoes yesterday. JC does not eat them, but he definitely grows them and I reap the benefits!

So, with a huge amount of gratitude...thank you to JC for taking care of the garden while I'm away!


Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, Iowa

For now, here are a few pictures around town...



  



Reiman Gardens, Ames, Iowa

 

 For more pictures, check out "Around Town" tab!

We Need Herbs Too!

I couldn't resist the attempt to grow herbs as well as vegetables. My "herb garden" is set-up on my balcony (whereas the garden is at JC's house). It faces the west so it receives a fantastic amount of sunlight during the day. Included in the group are chives, rosemary, basil and catnip (yep, my kitties should enjoy the garden too). I also added sunflowers and am attempting a pot of wildflowers. All but the chives are growing nicely in the past two weeks.

Now, I just need some yummy recipes.

Peek A Boo, I See You

With about two weeks in, new growth pokes through the soil. It is a good sign considering we planted, then the next day there was a heat wave with temperatures up to 95 degrees. Then, we cooled down with rain, clouds and damp weather for, what felt like, an eternity.

Alas!

The sun decided to play and now the garden is playing back. The corn is popping up. JC did a great job making sure the corn rows were straight (had I planted the corn, the garden would have looked like a maze). The tomatoes are flowering. And, in a different area of the yard, we planted strawberries. Admittedly, I was a little rough handling them upon planting. Because we couldn't decide where to plant the berries, they were planted, dug up, replanted, dug up. Regardless of the
constant replanting, they seem to be fine because they are flowering too.