Let's Face it, Eastern Market is not the "marche aux Fleurs a Nice" in the South of France, and mores the pity. Neither is Eastern Market, Versailles's back yard. Nor, is it like some of those fields of Tulips, I saw when I was in Holland. Alas, it is not like walking the country lanes of County Wicklow in Ireland either-no sheep!
(Jefferson Greenhouse-annuals "pinks, dustymillers,
petunias and...)
(Jefferson Greenhouse- Lantanas are plants that attract butterflies)
( Cone flowers, Hibiscus: Jefferson Greenhouse)
However, I like you this time of year when I look outside all I can think about is gardening. Just look in your "yard", "front lawn", "window pots" or "barren and uncared for patch of dirt" and/ or garden can't you just see them pushing up (in your my imagination) the narcissus, daffodils, irises, snow drops, hyacinths, and tulips.
How did this happen to me. I grew up partly on a farm. So, I hate nature! That is to say, when I think of working outside; I think of bugs, snakes, prickly weeds and plants that itch, and back breaking work. In my days on the farm I was know to hide from my granddaddy when I would here him calling my name and saying it was time to go down to the "big or little" garden to chop weeds or worse collect vegetables for the table. I was short so granddaddy had chopped down a hoe just my size and he always kept his tools sharp and in good repair so I had no excuses. On more than one occasion I went down a whole row of vegetables and failed to distinguish the plants from the weeds. To say the least my grandfather was not pleased.
( Jefferson Greenhouse-Perennials)
This transformation from hater of nature to gardening fiend is due to many factors. But lets just put the blame where it belongs. It is my mother's fault. It started with me getting a scholarship to Penland School of Crafts for two months but without funds to pay apartment and travel, I had to move back home. I went to Penland studied-Landscape photography-(don't ask) and looked at the beatific landscape of the mountains of North Carolina. I still have many a black and white photo of kudzu. When I came back from Penland "po' as a church mouse". I did not have the where with all to move out. I stayed and stayed and stayed.
(Jefferson Greenhouse- annuals)
(Jefferson Greenhouse stand at Eastern Market)
During that time I studied more metalsmithing and one day... I did something wild and crazy. It is Ruth E Tintary fault as well. Ruth E is a client friend from Eastern Market who advised me not to save my money, not to stay in Baltimore another summer but to leap. So, I went to Ireland and studied Silversmithing with Master silversmith Brian Clarke( http://www.silversmithingworkshop.com/ ). And I fell in love with the people, the country, "the hot whiskey" and basically everything but the food. Brian's work shop is in a little village called Balinaclash in the Irish country side. Yvonne-Brian's wife remarked to me that Co. Wicklow is the garden of Ireland. I would have to agree. I went back to Brian's workshops five times. And still hope to go back one more time. Where I was in Ireland was so beautiful it was oppressive. Many times I would walk down the road and just stare. I could not breath. It was like being in a living patch work quilt of differing hues of green. Then there are the yellow , purple, white, red and orange wild flowers. Then of course, there are the low ancient stone walls covered with liken that bisect the green canopy and of course the sheep grazing in the fields.
But, what turned the corner in my story gardening was the time I spent in the south of France. I went on a tour of the lavender fields in "haute provence". We stopped on this tour to walk into a field. I just became country again and took my shoes off and ran through the field of lavender. I just ran around with joy. So, now it is the spring of 2006 and I am back at Eastern Market my mother's yard looks like who struck john and I think and think and try to hire someone else to fix it. My mother had always been in her yard doing something, planting something, weeding and digging. Now she was ailing and I was able, so I did. My love of gardening started out as obligation in the late spring of 2006.
The artist in me took over, about 3 months after I started gardening. I was wrestling a rock and I won-it moved. During this time I stared talking to Mr. Jerry Mark of Jefferson Greenhouse at Eastern Market. Mr. Mark is a horticulturalist and has been at Eastern Market under the Farmer's shed since 1978. Mr. Mark comes from a long line of farmers. His family has been farming since 1860. He was born and grew up in Iowa. He came to this area (Jefferson West Virginia) and visited Monticello and named his business in honor of the gardens that President Jefferson installed at his home. He decided early on that his interest lay not in large scale farming but in intense small farming. In speaking of the reasons why he has stayed at Eastern Market for so long, he sighted the community that he feels comfortable with and the fact that he likes providing them with plants that they like. He also sight his enjoyment of the diversity of people that he has met at Eastern Market over the years. His wife said coming to Eastern Market is "like coming to town once a week".
I think at first when I stared speaking with Mr. Mark he gave me the hairy eyeball. At Eastern Market I have learned to dress up and I look very artsy. I do not look like some one who would wrestle a rock, nor clean up and dig up 1/4 of an acre of yard. Jerry however, was always nice and very informative. I asked about what plants to put in shade, sun, micro climates, soil composition, composting, what planets to put under a black walnut tree etc. Every weekend for almost two years when Jerry was there I would come around with another question. He was and is patient, knowledgeable and generous with information.
(Isiah Brunson-Blue Iris Farms-Jerry Mark-Jefferson Greenhouse)
Mr. Mark was my first reference at the Market about gardening, but I would also speak with Angie and Isiah Brunson of Blue Iris Farms. They own the big flower stand on the outside of Eastern Market facing 7th street. While Blue Iris Farm's specializes in cut flowers Angie and Isiah grow many planets themselves and also have a farm. The Brunson's of Blue Iris Farms have been selling cut flowers and plant Eastern Market since 1976. Like Mr. Mark, Isiah Brunson comes from a long line of farmers. He is from Sumter, South Carolina.
(Jerry Mark: Jefferson Greenhouse)
(Blue Iris Farmers)
(Blue Iris Farms-floral arrangements)
(Blue Iris Farms-gladiolas)
By 2008, I was a full fledged "gardening addict" and Jerry Mark was one of my primary dealers. I have told him this and he has replied "I only try to help those in need or more planets" this is one of our jokes about garden addiction.
I am not alone in this love. Near Eastern Market there are several community Garden's among them are Virginia Ave. Community Garden on N & 10 street N.E. as well as the Ginkgo Garden on 11th street. It is impossible not to note the cute postage stamp gardens that dot the area around Eastern Market. In Baltimore "we" have "yards" and in Tennessee we have fields. The word garden is strange on my lips.
One should also note that in the early spring and early fall "The Capital Hill Garden Club" sets up a stand at the market tempting folks with a wide and varied selection of bulbs, rhizomes and corms. I especially love there selections of tulips. Can one plant enough of these colorful and fragrant delights.
( Capital Hill Garden Club- Tulip bulbs)
To "show off" I put in a front yard garden. I came up with this idea after reading " A Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson and noting how much work it was to keep grass pretty. And I don't particularly like grass. I am an ornamental gardener. I love flowers and herbs. The star of my show are roses. I have a vegetable patch in my back yard garden which mostly feeds the bugs and squirrels. Let's face it squirrels are demons-they eat bulbs, tomatoes, cumber, okra etc. I plant hot peppers around my other vegetables just to try and keep them out. Mr. Mark and I have spoken of pest control often. It was he that suggested the hot pepper trick. It works.
I now also have to contend with "Bami" and her cousins. I have told the four legged fawns that my backyard ain't the evergreen banquet. Last month in January I saw three out back. I am about ready to call Jesse Dunham ( a long time produce merchant at Eastern Market ) of Dunham farmers in West Virginia to come up with his boys, the truck, and the shot guns. I understand that "bami" taste good with a little rosemary and mint. I have some of the former and a great deal of the latter.
One seeing the collection of planets I was purchasing from Jefferson Greenhouse at the Market. I discovered many a garden among the exhibitors and my clients. Eastern Market during the spring, summer and fall is for gardens.
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Beulah Land: MY MOTHER'S GARDEN
(These photos are of the garden July and august 2009)
(Mi casa) (I put in the front yard garden spring of 2007, it is 17 feet long and 3 feet deep on either side. All the lavender is from Jefferson Greenhouse as are the Cone flowers) The idea was a "white butterfly garden with 3 seasonal interest that was also very aromatic. I still smile when I remember, I would work on Tuesdays, my mother would sit in her rocker on the left and watch me with approval in her eyes and it was only after I finished putting this in that she told me with a look of pure innocence "my favorite color is red)
(This is "the vegetable patch" as one can see by 2009 it was mostly flowers-false sun flowers with some tomatoes, peppers and okra sprinkled in for show)
(Sunny side garden with -bee balm, day lilies , nasturtiums, weeds, sedum and cat mint)
(Red nasturtium for my mother-from Jefferson Greenhouse-day lilies, weeds...)
(Butterfly bush-with monarch butterfly-the yard is now filled with butterfly's, bees and birds from spring to fall)
(Front yard border done by my mother-she loved hostas, shrubs and everything flowering)
(Near the Black Walnut Tree-shady side garden- my mother put in hosta, ivy and roses of Sharon, I added variegated hostas, bleeding hearts, toad Lilly's and ferns)
(back yard shade garden -hosta central-)
(detail front yard garden, phlox, sweet alyssum, cone flowers, bee balm and lavender) For as long as I can remember my mother would say to me "I want my flowers while I am alive" and thanks in large part to hard work, the advice and support of my best friend Catherine Carter, her mother Mrs. Margaret Carter and Jerry Mark (Jefferson Greenhouse) and his wonderful stand at Eastern Market, she got them.
Witnessing
Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb
Post Script: Jerry Mark(Jefferson Greenhouse) will be back at Eastern Market late this March with a special treat "red leaf variegated nasturtium". I can not wait to put them in
the garden
(Yes, I feed and water birds, Japanese Maple, clementis, creeping jenny and...)
(backyard garden partial sun- Easter Lily, and heavenly bamboo)
(variegated hosta, clematis, rose of Sharon, and hydrangea)
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