“Double bloodroot. Pure white, tentative until it’s not, an early gem. I have to wonder why it remains one of my prize “steals”, nabbed from a garden in Norwich VT over 20 years ago. Not to worry; it was a healthy patch that would not be harmed by my minor theft. I was on a crew at the time, and was given permission by the crew head, to dig up a cup full. I managed to replant it and nurse it into a thriving clump, which I then pilfered upon moving, in an attempt to transplant it here. I always leave enough, for others to continue enjoying its radiance, although it may not be recognized for the royalty that it is, by anyone coming after me. This is a habit that has served me well. I don’t like to take, without giving. It’s not why I was forced off the crew, when things went south. I seem to rub up against my own enthusiasm sometimes, and too much zealotry can be perceived as an invading army. My psyche has often been ejected from groups and partnerships. I’ve learned to almost expect it. Perhaps the double Bloodroot is some aspect of my being, the deep crimson of the hidden parts, beneath showy crowns that come quickly, and leave as precipitously. The people around me now seem to carry so much more humility and generosity. Dan meet us at the garden’s edge this morning, with an apology. “I have to apologize”, he said. We knew immediately, that he did not have to apologize for anything, but were willing to entertain his good will. “I was mowing, and I was spaced out & let the grass blow into the beds”, he continued. This much consideration reminds me that the world is actually filled with people who have deeply lived, & reflected deeply, on the sanity of kindness. I know that I probably don’t know the best way to receive unwarranted kind acts, but I do imbibe them like someone who collects precious stones. “Three trips to Boston this week ... I wasn’t ...” His intent was complete, without much more needing to be said. I wish I could have met him more fully. He and his wife have been incredible clients, and, this seemingly short and simple rapport is now how I identify my friends. People teach me to trust, and open, when I least expect it. Much of the drama is internal, but the reality of what we create this way, is significant,and lasting. It’s what can make a garden extraordinary, for truly, it takes a team to create beauty. What is a garden? What is this thing I throw my back into, day after day, and my soul? A garden, well tended, is a place that brings ease and calm. I am blessed, after all these years, to have been brought into contact with creative, uplifting humans, and opportunities to paint with my mind. It’s not a given, or a contract, but a gift. We worked the rest of the day, with a silent sense of gratitude, as well as some fatigue, for the week had been a trying one. I’d promised a huge amount of labor to another (new) client, and the learning curve for that effort was not smooth. Surveillance cameras at this other remote property irked. My own lack of knowledge around how their million dollar landscape worked, meant trial and error, and direct involvement with Sisyphean tasks. Yet on the upside, the views of wild mountain terrain, seen only as the Green Mountains can be seen from such homesteads, filled me with something novel, as did a porcupine who met me on the drive out, me somehow not too exhausted to stop the truck, and watch him waddle up the scrub of a forest embankment. As I said, the bloodroot tells of medicine couched below flowers, under piles of inert materials such as dirt, and leaves, rain & decay, or camouflaged sometimes in prickles, or lack of words.”
