2008 Writing D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
September
2008
A Gypsy's Garden
Plus seed collecting and trail talk.
Seed Secrets
Collecting the seed of favorite plants is one savvy way to enlarge your plant inventory. While discussing this topic with Jeff Anderson, the agronomy and horticulture agent for Dona Ana County Cooperative Extension Service, the conversation segued to birds. I was delighted to hear his opinion of why curve-billed thrashers adore filching sprigs of germinating plants: because they're looking for grubs! Mais certainement.
To save the magna portion of your sunflowers for the birds, Jeff suggests picking the mature green area from the seed head and letting them ripen. This leaves you an ornamental source to propagate.
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The garden entry: a friend's skull and crossbones rests on one of Ginny
Wolf's sculptures. (Photo by Vivian Savitt) |
Some seeds are easier to collect, store and propagate than others. Cacti have fleshy seeds that are collected from their ripe fruit, then smushed, washed and dried. Cacti take patience and special knowledge to propagate.
Other plants like echinacea (coneflower), cosmos and larkspur self-sow readily. If you want to share them with friends, or sow the seeds in new spots in your garden, let them dry on the plant, then place in a paper bag or envelope, label and store in a cool, dry place.
Be sure to visit theseedsite.co.uk online to find 700 photos of plant species, from salvias and campsis (trumpet vine), to geranium and campanula. Learn where on the plant to find seeds (inside calyxes, pods, etc.), recognize their shape, when to sow them, and how the seedlings look when germinating. This web site contains a wealth of useful information.
Trail Talk
Hail San Vicente Creek Trail! How many towns can boast a downtown, creek-side hiking trail? The San Vicente Creek Trail is our sterling town's answer to San Antonio's Riverwalk, minus the crowds and crass commercialism — plus the funky counterpose of "historic dumpings" (several mounds of aged, rusty cars that are indeed Silveresque).
Accessed at the east end of San Vicente Street, adjacent to the evocative, old Silver Skate building, the trail offers a handy and quick walk. On the one-mile trail that is due to be extended to over two miles, you'll find huge cottonwoods, rock outcroppings and glimpses of wildlife.
Approximately four years old, the trail exists in its present form because of the work and foresight of many folks, including the Trails & Open Space Committee. The product of numerous small land acquisitions, tedious research to discover who owned which parcels, bureaucratic delays and setbacks, the trail is a case study in Olympic endurance.
"It was a total miracle that people cared enough about it to volunteer to clean it up," recalls Herbie Marsden, one of several trail pioneers. A former dump site, the area took several years to clear out.
Bob Schiowitz, a community volunteer and US Forest Service archeologist with Gila National Forest, helped plan, lay out, and instruct in trail clearing and building. Joseph Gendron helped secure funding, including an EPA brown-field grant. First New Mexico Bank donated land; faculty and students at Aldo Leopold High School helped to prune brush, monitor habitat conditions and construct trails under the aegis of the Youth Conservation Corps. Kudos to many other volunteers, too numerous to name here, who "blazed" San Vicente Trail.
A Long-Time-Coming Garden
"Plants talk to me. They tell me where they want to grow," says Ginny Wolf, with an insightful twinkle in her eyes. "And I believe in land spirits and fairies," continues the 10-year resident of Silver City and jewelry designer who believes that "gardens are all magic."
Who could challenge this belief? After all, we live in the Land of Enchantment. Once you've seen Ginny's garden, and her physical feats of creating near-vertical pathways, one wonders how many pixies joined her effort setting "plantasms" among stone crevices.
A self-described "gypsy," Ginny lived on the road for seven years, traveling to art fairs in her 24-foot travel trailer, a Holiday Rambler. She always found time to make the semblance of a garden, but never for more than a year, moving from Reserve to Magdalena and Taos.
"I broke two Roto-Tillers on Fayewood caliche, but the garden turned out beautifully," she recalls. In that effort Ginny was inspired by a book about Findhorn, an international spiritual community founded in Scotland in 1962. The Findhorn members continue to stress the sacred in everyday life. "They communicated with land spirits while working the cold, harsh terrible soil of northeastern Scotland."
Whether making a fire pit or digging out a "switch-back trail" that spirals down an 18-foot drop from the garden's facade into the back yard, Ginny insists that she would be "perfectly content every day getting my hands dirty in the garden."
She enjoys her pets and the garden's varied wildlife. "A desert tortoise hung out here for a while. There are bull snakes, rabbits, a covey of quail, orioles and other birds. Two bucks strolled in once and ate some cosmos."
Ginny credits nature with the color combinations that she uses in her jewelry. "Ideas pop up in my head and I make jewelry as I go. I don't make sketches, but I doodle some designs to quiet my mind.
Don't Vegetate Alone
Check out High Desert Organic Gardeners, a network of Silver City/Grant Country enthusiasts who not only share ideas, information and experiences in the quest for producing great home gardened produce, but also publish a newsletter and events calendar. If you long for leeks and aspire to asparagus in your back yard, attend a HiDog meeting, held the first Wednesday of every month (next meeting, Sept. 3) through November. For details, see www.hidog.info or e-mail AnaiaSong@gilanet.com |
"A year ago," she continues, "I didn't expect to make the switch-back trail. But I'Il get a wild idea and become obsessed with it."
Current "wild ideas" include creating a grotto in memory of her mother, Joni. "My mother wanted a grotto dedicated to poorly treated, underappreciated women. I have the spot picked out, but must relocate a rattlesnake first."
She also intends to install a raised bed for growing vegetables and a sweat lodge made from salt cedar or willow branches. "I'll use blankets and tarps instead of animal hides," she adds.
An arboretum is underway with a stand of Arundo donax (giant reed), a grass that can reach 25 feet in height. Arundo was brought here by Spanish colonizers and was the bamboo of the New World. A black walnut tree that's "growing really fast," according to Ginny, should enjoy the expanse allotted for it at the front of the property.
Most of her plants are gifts from friends, and she uses lots of natives and herbs.
Ginny Wolf's jewelry can be found at Cienega Spa and the Seedboat Gallery, where her work will also be exhibited in a group jewelry show scheduled in November.