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Greetings, GardenWebbers!
Here s a little information about me. I am an avid dirt-digger by profession (archaeologist) as well as by avocation (gardener).
My house is a copy of Dr. Archibald Blair s at Williamsburg. In keeping with the spirit of those times, I have created parterres and woodland areas around and in front of the house. When I began planning and planting, I also adopted Humphry Repton s philosophy that a garden should reflect the tension between the wild and the civilized. After 26 years in this house, I m still learning about plants and working on the garden -- re-thinking, tweeking, & replanting. Spring 2004 saw the last of the lawn! The entire front is now a glen of azaleas, rhodies, & hosta! Plans for 2007 include some modifications of this area because the plants have truly taken off in ways I was not expecting, i.e., over-growing each other.
Lately, I ve \"fallen\" for landscape roses. I like the fact that they are almost carefree, unlike my rhodies. I also grow many different varieties of (pink) broad-leaf rhodendrons, azalea, and kalmia. With the alkaline soils in Chicagoland, it s a challenge. When they don t do well, I take it as a personal affront. In the spring, when they are blooming, my heart sings!
Like Wellesley s Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, I believe
One could no more have too many rhodendrons than too many diamonds
(Excerpt from a letter to Garden and Forest , May 1895).
Book #3, Learning to Cook in 1898: A Chicago Culinary Memoir, was released in September, 2007, through Wayne State University Press. It sets 88 recipes collected during that year into historical/socio-economic context. This book was really fun to research, especially since I knew almost nothing about the domestic science movement, the Pure Food and Drug Crusaders, or the changes in food availability, production, and preparation at the turn of the century in the US.
My second book, Irma: A Chicago Woman s Story 1871-1966, came out in March, 2004. The University of Iowa Press did a marvelous job in producing it. Then, as sort of the proverbial icing on the cake for the year, my garden was featured in Chicagoland Gardening magazine (May-June 2004). The article s author is an incredible writer. Her prose sparkles, and the photographs are so amazing, I am jealous.
I LOVE the GARDENWEB forums! A day without checking what s happening here is like a day without flowers!
I live in: United States
My zone is: 5B
My favorite forum 1 is Woodlands.
My favorite forum 2 is The Garden Party.
First registered on February 21,2001.