January / February 2007

Got Spring? Plant Bulbs Plant Fruit Plant Wildflowers What To Do With Borage Plant Choices Local Garden Clubs Opportunities Books Herbs Dining In Resources Bits & Pieces Editor’s Gleanings Gardening with Kids Herb of the Year Notes from the Brazos Beck on Nature (greyed articles available in printed version - subscribe now!)

Gleanings I have brand new beautiful twin grandbabies! Now on the surface, that might not seem like a topic of interest to gardeners, but when you look more closely, isn’t new life and growth what it is all about? Don’t we get out there and make our backs ache and our fingernails caked with dirt just so we can see a tiny seedling emerge from the soil? Don’t we try very hard to create a clean environment so that we and the people we love, particularly the little ones, will have fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink? Oh sure, for some gardening is just like vacuuming — a way to keep things looking neat. But I think it is a grander and more noble pursuit. I think gardening is a way to connect us to all the people in the world — people alive right now, people gone before and people who aren’t here yet. After all, we are every one of us dependent on the soil for our very life. If we didn’t have some good food grown by someone, we’d be completely out of luck. And if we didn’t have some beautiful flowers and fragrances to balance the inevitable unhappiness and stench, wouldn’t life be much less worth living? So, now as we are starting off a new year of gardening, of working, of planning, and of living our lives, I want to celebrate the new lives in my family and yours. I want to renew my commitment to making the world a healthier place, a place where more people smell the roses and fewer shoot at each other. I want my own back yard to be a haven for Bailey and Braxton and friends and neighbors who wander through. I hope yours is a haven for you and yours as well. Happy new year!