“If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
If the mountains crumble to the sea
There would still be you and me”

Hey there, and welcome to a new season!

Every year spring comes again, and I just love that we live in an area of 4 seasons. Coming out of the winter knowing there will be an explosion of spring flowers is intoxicating. The constant change from one thing to another invigorates me since I always need something to look forward to, constantly, nonstop, it’s ridiculous. Winter goes into Spring, goes into Summer, goes into Fall, goes into Winter, repeat. This really works for me, since I get bored very easily (I tell Scott it’s a miracle he’s still my one and only). Isn’t it awesome to have something to look forward to? I hope to have many occurrences throughout the day, otherwise I get restless (I am a worker bee, maybe the queen too, so my day needs to be busy, busy, busy).

Ok, so waking up early is not something I ever look forward to, I wish I did, but it has never been so:) But... then there is coffee!! Then maybe there is plant shopping that day (or weeding boo), possibly tending to a garden that is exploding in color, watching all the pollinator activity that is surrounding me. I love to see when a flower is still in its bud, then watching the beautiful process of seeing it open. This is my favorite part. Once it’s all the way open I’m done:) Of course I love seeing a perfectly open flower, but it's the process of looking forward to seeing it open that I love the most. At the end of the day, I am strolling around my own garden, seeing how many more plants I can fit into a space where there is actually no more space. With wine, of course (helps me think about impossibilities:) I am always striving to create a landscape that is a place you look forward to being in in all seasons, to let go of the stress of the day and just breathe. Of course, I always read the paper at the end of the day (I need to keep myself informed, no matter what the stress does to me), screws the whole thing up!

PLANT LOVE

Speaking of Stress:) Plants can get just as stressed out as us, we are just so similar. Plants will start off growing in a nursery/greenhouse, getting pampered with just the right amount of water, light and nutrients, man they have the life! Then the sh*** hits the fan. They are loaded, transported, yanked off the truck, and stuck in a foreign place. Maybe it’s cold enough to damage new growth or flowers, maybe it's a 1000 degrees out and no one is offering water until hours later. After we load and unload our plants, I am usually talking to them (they’re living things, they feel stuff). I’m like “It’s ok, I got you!”. But then I tell them to suck it up (like talking to my kids), the real world is not easy, and resilience is needed! Like my Dad used to say to me (I think every day?) Life’s a bitch and then you die! We water our plants as soon as they get off the truck, and then right after they are yanked out of their pots and into their new homes (EVERY DAY FOR 3 DAYS, EVERY THIRD DAY thereafter if no rain for the first few weeks, my basic watering rules). I don’t usually take pics of new plantings because that first day, the plants are like “No! We are not camera ready!!” They are just too stressed out to look their best.

WATER, WATER, WATER! This is the plant's antidepressant. It takes a couple years for the garden to find its rhythm in the real world, and change is constant, and like humans, there are times that some plants just can’t deal with the real world, they wilt and wither away. Most, though, will suck it up, adapt, and thrive!

“My love is strong, with you there is no wrong
Together we shall go until we die
Inspiration’s what you are to me
Inspiration, look n see”

TREE LOVE

Have you ever thought about how TREES can make us feel less stressed? When I go into the woods, I enter into another world. My body and my mind react immediately. I FEEL GOOD. In Japan, the forest is called The Realm of the Divine. Ohhhh yes, I want to be there everyday! Maybe doctors could start prescribing spending time in nature instead of pills for our stress, depression, adhd, teenage brooding (my favorite), blood pressure, obesity, the list just goes on and on and on…….. Since I’m kind of an anxious, overthinking mental case, my mind just runs and runs and runs…..but then I see a tree:) When you walk into the woods, not only is the air cleaner (toxic pollution accumulates on their canopy like fat in the filter of an exhaust above a kitchen stove), but you also will be breathing in natural oils called PHYTONCIDES, which are part of the tree's defense and communication systems. The forest's natural aromatherapy! Of all of our 5 senses, the sense of smell is the most primal, none other has such a direct effect on our minds and bodies. So not only does this stuff boost our immune system, but it also heals our minds as well. Happy place☮️

Of course, trees have plenty of stress also. Trees are social beings, so of course they get stressed! They are so similar to human families, living with their children, communicating with them, supporting them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick, and warning others of danger. They experience pain, can smell and taste, and have memories. Their roots are so interconnected that sometimes they even die together! This is not me talking out of my arse, but is backed by REAL SCIENCE with REAL SCIENTISTS studying how all of this plays out (no conspiracy theories here about trees infiltrating our ranks and voting).

Forty years ago in Africa, scientists noticed that when Giraffes were feeding on Acacia trees, the trees didn’t like it one bit. It took only minutes for the trees to start pumping TOXIC substances into their leaves to get rid of the Giraffes, so the Giraffes decided to move on. But they didn’t just move to the trees nearby. They moved at least a 100 YARDS AWAY because the trees had given off a warning gas (SMELL) that warned the nearby trees that there was a crisis. The nearby trees then also pumped the toxins into their leaves to prepare themselves. Pretty cool.

When a caterpillar takes a chunk out of a leaf, the tissue around the site changes, and the leaf sends out ELECTRICAL SIGNALS, just as human tissue does when it’s hurt (PAIN). Trees can identify the insects that are attacking them.The saliva of each insect species is different, and the trees can match the saliva to the insect, and they can even release PHEROMONES to summon beneficial insects to take care of the bad guys. The fact that trees can recognize saliva must mean they have a sense of TASTE.

Trees in the forest care for each other, sometimes nourishing a tree stump that was cut down centuries before, feeding it sugars and other nutrients to keep it alive. Tree roots, together with the Fungi that become part of the underground web, are capable of distinguishing their own roots from other species, and even from roots of their own family. The roots exchange news about insects, drought, and other dangers (Ummmm, guys? Some of you may be f***** with this climate change thing). How do Trees know when to drop their leaves in the fall and then wake up in the Spring? Rising temps mean spring, but how do they know the warmth is just temporary or that Spring is actually starting? Well it seems TREES CAN COUNT!! They wait until a certain number of warm days have passed, and only then do they trust that all is well. It’s not just the temperatures, but also on how long the days are. Beeches don’t start growing until it has been light for at least 13 hours a day. Trees like Beeches and Oaks, which are native to our Northern hemisphere, adapt to reversed cycles when planted in countries in the Southern hemisphere, which means they must also have a MEMORY. How else could they compare day length or count warm days?

There is just WAY WAY WAY too much to get into on this topic of Trees, but it really makes you think (or yell at the Asplund guys who obviously have zero respect for any tree). Next time you see the woods being completely obliterated for another apartment complex (Oh Downingtown, please stop), you now know that it was a massacre. So…….We shall plant more trees. Lots and Lots of trees. Our gardens shall replace the woods that were lost. The End:)

MY LOVE

In closing, I’d like to give a shout out to my husband Scott, for whom without him, this business of ours would not be anything like it is today. When we first met, all I had was my little red pick up truck, with my yellow lab Pierre as my copilot, trying to fill up that little half ton pickup with 5 yards of mulch:} Pretty soon after our intense love affair began, he mentioned he needed to be on a different path in life. Well, I told him I needed someone to help me (I was not consciously serious, Jeez!!) He said, ok sure! Wait what?!! Ok, well this will be interesting, I thought, seeing we had not known each other for very long at that point. The rest is history. Almost 30 years later, I still love watching him, well, do anything:)

Before I met him, I never thought big enough, never pushed hard enough, never reached as far as I could because I was always talking myself out of anything that would move me forward. Because of fear. FEAR SUCKS! It surrounded me all the time, and I let it prevent me from doing what I knew I needed to do to succeed in life (I am still afraid of corn though, I refuse to walk next to those corn fields when we hike). Scott came into my life and said, “Suck it up and do it”. I'd be busy making excuses for not doing something, he’s already doing it. No talk, all action! I love it. I didn’t know that’s the way I could actually be, to be fearless and to not give a crap about how many mistakes were made. Oh, and believe me, Scott has made some epic mistakes (called the Scotty factor), but he turns those mistakes into advantages, he figures it all out, no problemo, onto the next adventure (He’s an Aries, they leap THEN think). He has TAUGHT me a different way to think (although sometimes he does not have a thought in his head? I’ll ask him “What are you thinking right now?” He looks at me and smiles,“Nothing?” Ugh. Good for you, must be nice. Jerk”). Sometimes you just meet someone that changes you, inspires you, and I live with this someone everyday💜And he’s nice to look at, bonus:)

We’re looking forward to Spring as usual (although it also means its Dyed Black Mulch season, which I dread). It's always the start of a new beginning, and I of course love that!

See you soon!
Kirsten and Scott

 

“And so, today the world it smiles
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles
Thanks to you, it will be done
For you to me are the only one”
-Thank you-Led Zeppelin