Neptune's allure at full moon

Such a strange month has been this November, now concluding with a big planetary arrangement that has been in play now for weeks. Saturn, the solidly rigid authority figure is being squared by Neptune, the invisible, alluring mist of oblivion. The juxtaposition between what's real and what is imagined or obscured has been in everyone's face. For some it has been a hugely unpleasant wake-up call, for others a sleepy arousal from the usual torpor we experience with the onset of cold weather and dark days.

Looking around the human world are multiple examples of the confusion of fanatical thinking with delusions of invincibility. Who is in charge, really? How do we get fanaticism under control? Where are the boundaries for something that has no boundaries? Addictions to power, drugs, weapons and the internet are all under examination at the moment.

Leaving the human world for a walk in the garden seems essential at present, however rainy or cold, just for some solace. Quite unexpectedly at this time of year, passing by the old crabapple wraps me in the fragrance of April violets. The cold snap in October, followed by a warm Indian summer, triggered them into an early bloom. As they have spread into a circle of twelve feet in diameter it is quite a waft of pure bliss! These are the intense pink violets that came from a small division from my mother's garden at least 35 years ago. The scent is full of my memory of her and yet she never lived long enough in one place to have such a spread of them, so it is not the memory of her garden that I smell. It is simply a place in my mind and heart where she resides still that is the comforting memory. It is the essence of Neptune that we all long for in ourselves, the oblivion of the womb, afloat in the mystery of the unknown, without fear, before birth and the reality of life lived. Mother Earth.

Indian Summer

The moon joined the triad of Jupiter, Mars and Venus in Virgo for these past two days filling everyone's life with a myriad of activities. Details were uppermost in our minds - all those emails to write, financial numbers to balance, holiday plans, appointments to make, work - staring at us from the computer.

But outside we were filled with the delights of a glorious Indian Summer - mellow windless days in the balmy 60's - perfect for raking all those leaves, planting the last of those divisions and fall sale purchases and hulling seeds now dried enough for storage. These are the last days of ease this year outside and the computer can wait for the cold days ahead.

Today, the moon has moved on to Libra for a weekend of sharing with friends, old and new, and enjoyment of the beauty all around us. Seize the day!

Clematis tibetana

Chrysanthemum 'Hillside Pink Sheffield '

Abundance / Jupiter conjunct Mars and Venus in Virgo

For the third and final time this year, these three are dancing together in the sky. Their first two meetings were in fire signs, adventurous Aries and demonstrative Leo, but this time they meet in the practical earth sign Virgo at a time of the year when it pays to cooperate and work together for the well being of all. Winter will soon be upon us and it’s time to gather whatever we need to get us through the cold months, putting aside competition and differences while we work diligently to make preparations.

This fall has been particularly fruitful hereabouts. Acorns are dropping with great abundance and passing under the oaks required swiftness to avoid being conked. The squirrels are hiding them in every nook and cranny of tree and pot for hopefully finding later. All the great many bayberries disappeared within two days of cold as chickadees and others gobbled every one. Raccoons are feeding nightly on the salt seared rose hips, chattering as they climb over fences and walls in the moonlight. Hawthorne berries are ripening and the juniper is loaded with clusters of fruit. Will I see the cedar waxwings when and if they arrive to devour them? Nothing is quite so delightful as seeing a whole flock of them descend and stay until they have eaten them all, a day or two, and then they are gone as quickly as they arrived, unlikely to be seen again until next year.

The energy to work efficiently and effectively is here with us for a few more days as we savor the grace and beauty of a benevolent fall.

Squares and Oppositions

With the sky full of the oppositions and squares of planets and asteroids to one another, with the Earth in between, one wonders what’s going on? And what is going on is a lot of tough stuff here on Earth. From sudden departures of good friends to wicked weather, one’s ears are pricked to attention. I am a dirt gardener and when times get tough, I head for the garden. The earth grounds me and helps absorb the tears. And it always reflects what’s going on. 

With the moon in receptive earth sign Virgo at the moment, I am planting and transplanting and repotting everything that needs that particular attention. In other words, I am thinking in terms of the future year, and what I can do to meet the needs of my plants to the best of my knowledge and awareness, along with the help of the moon’s cyclic position. 

And that is also part of what squares and oppositions tell us. They are a wake up call to pay attention and look around. What needs doing, rethinking, updating? What can we leave behind and what should we nurture for the future? 

Not that any of this is easy. It’s hard work breaking out of the comfortable boundaries we’ve known, but we are at a point where it will get easier if we take a reflective look around, make adjustments and move on.

Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, WA

Eclipse Weather

I worry that I talk too much about bad weather as I reread this blog. But the fact is there is a lot of difficult weather as there is a lot of difficult life and death. Challenges greet us at every turn of the seasons and often in the midst of them. If I were to add up all the days of bad weather each year, they might be roughly the same number, year after year. What seems different lately is that the periods of particular weather situations seem to last longer, stretching out into stressful extents that try everyone’s endurance. Even the long, dry, comfortable summer, so pleasurable for vacationers and merchants, was agonizing for a gardener set on keeping plants alive and thriving. Plants and people need water.

The total lunar eclipse last week ushered in a change from the past to an uncertain future, as all lunar eclipses are traditionally expected by astrology to do. This one did so with an insistent whoosh longer than any I have seen. After hitting us with 3” of much desired rain, it followed up with six solid days of relentless, Northeast gale force winds. Two or three are the usual, not six. Not a leaf escaped the assault unless barricaded behind a wall or hedge. No hurricane this no name storm, just weather at seemingly endless length, leaving no question that change has indeed arrived. 

It is time to think ahead and leave the past behind. 

Autumn Equinox

The days surrounding the autumnal equinox have always evoked a sense of awe in me which is mostly created by an unusual quiet as compared to the preceding summer. It’s a time when the natural world seems to be holding still, glorying in itself and the fullness of life, and heaving a big sigh of relief. 

The racket of cicadas has given way to the subtle rhythm of crickets chirping as the temperature dropped from hot to warm to cool this week. Most plants have finished with their seasonal growth cycles and are slowly withdrawing energies back into their roots while lingering to enjoy the last of the warmth. Only a few perennials are still awaiting a late bloom, strikingly beautiful without the competition of summer sunlight. 

Kirengeshoma palmata

And then there is the sky at the autumn equinox. It imposes itself on us with extraordinary effects of light and clouds. It implores us to look at it in a way we could not in high summer. It summons us to stop working and drop everything, to just look up and be. 

Exsultate, jubilate

Holidays are for exuberance and the 4th of July is one of the most exuberant. 

This month’s expansive Jupiter conjunction with beauteous Venus has brought an abundance of glorious flowering in the garden. 

While the clamor of nearby swimming pool parties, backyard ball games, and amateur home fireworks has replaced the hungry caws of baby crows in the towering trees above, the flowers seem undisturbed by it all. Their proliferation calms my shudders at the noisy cacophony around us, though the dogs have taken to their beds, no doubt hoping for the rain and closed windows the dim skies promise. 

This Mars conjunct Cancer Sun (home/family) energy will disappear soon enough, but for now America is on a very active vacation as well as on alert. 

Jupiter and Venus will stay around together though for four more months, which offers us time to consider the joy of peace.

It’s time for some Mozart, sung by Emma Kirkby.

 Clematis 'Mrs. Cholmondeley'

 Clematis 'Roguchi'

 Lonicera 'Serotina'

Summer Solstice, Fire and Ice

We look forward to Mid Summer's Eve as being a night of endless 
twilight and excitement. Last night was anything but though. 
Parties sagged under the weight of drizzle. Laden skies made it too dim to 
see far beyond the umbrella or the tent. It was as though the whole town wept 
with a sigh of resignation to the weather. It was a long dry spring, 
so how can we complain that the rain we wished for has finally arrived for a late entrance.

A walk around the garden at precisely solstice, 12:39 pm EDT, led me right to an 
Echeveria that has caught my eye this spring - 'Fire and Ice'

This last month's dance of Mars with the Sun and Mercury retrograde has worn everyone ragged with activity, stops and starts, frustrations and challenges. A square from Neptune to the Sun and Mercury has sparked the creative imagination of some and left others in a fog of doubt and unknowing. Which are we - hot or cold, dry or wet, warming or cooling off? 

This succulent of Mexico says sometimes we have it both ways as life toughens us up to face the reality of transition. 

I kept looking around and saw some successful evidence of the co-existence of seeming opposites. 

Veronica incana with Sedum 'Angelina'

Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca pendulum' with Acer palmatum 'Crimson Queen'

Gemini Sun with Mercury and Mars, Moon in Libra

It’s my favorite time of year. It’s the fun time.

After the glorious, but work, work, work hard physical month of Taurus Sun, 

Gemini is when we get to enjoy our own efforts and share our work with others.

The sun has been climbing higher in the sky everyday here in North America, 

giving us more daylight to work outside and more energy to do the work. 

We are working upward to a crescendo of sun intensity in Gemini culminating in the solstice on June 21st. Can you hear the chattering of excited voices? No wonder there are so many weddings, graduations, reunions, parties. We are at our peak of energy now. 

In the garden, every plant is moving at constant speed ahead. There is no stasis now. Each flower develops and immediately starts going by as it forms seeds for the next generation. One wants to hold on to these days of blooming magic, but there is no lingering here. Glory does not hang around for long. 

What does hang around for awhile though are the surprise interactions of friends and neighbors, the intermingling of new acquaintences and the desire for connection within communities. We are all sharing the same ground and it’s time to talk about it. 

Sedum and creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum Coccineus)

Self-sown Aquilegia (columbine) sports with Pinus parviflora 'Nishiki'

Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow' mingling with Siberian Iris

Gemini Moon. Sounds of Spring.

Air sign Gemini is associated with communication among other things, so the voice and music are part of its realm. Yesterday's first delight was being awakened by thunder as the last of the night's rain storms passed through soon after dawn. The second delight was watching the storm move off quickly followed by a bright sunny day to explore the new blossoms opening everywhere. These are 'Awake and Sing' kind of days, as Gemini moon or sun days so often are.

A song sparrow spent a full glorious minute in the birdbath filled to the perfect level by the morning rain, hardly believing its luck, though always checking to see if any danger lurked while bobbing up and down in ruffled frolic. Followed by a big puffed up shake and a strong trill to its mate - this is bird bliss.

A friend who was helping me with garden chores later in the day discovered a nest of bunnies in a clump of woodrush, hidden by dead leaves and rabbit fur neatly piled in and around their hole. She carefully pulled the protection away to take a peek, and one bunny got the hiccups bouncing up and down probably thinking we were delivering a meal. Quickly we put the leaves back and found a wire crate to cover the area so the dogs wouldn't bother them but with big enough openings for mama to get through.. Now and then we can see the leaves move with baby bunny hops underneath.

Luzula sylvatica marginata

Gemini is also known by its symbol of twins. Communication needs two. One to speak and one to listen. The Age of Gemini occurred 6 millennia ago and is the period when human writing first developed along with an expansion in consciousness. Awake and sing, indeed.

Jonquil 'February Gold'

Capricorn Moon with Pluto. Last Quarter.

After a tough week back in the embrace of winter cold rain, wind and 

seemingly everyone with sniffles, today is like a benediction on the real 

end of winter. The sun is shining and no coats are needed. Everything is 

stretching out into the warmth with a kind of resolve to move on away from 

the shock of regression so late into spring. We move slowly, carefully but 

steadily onward with the resumption of the clean-up.

One of my most favorite chores in early spring is cutting back last year’s hellebore 

leaves, now finished with their protection of the new buds. I wait to do this when the 

flowers are opening, both because of those late nasty cold spells, but also because 

I love getting up close to the flowers for a good look at their level. Called the Christmas 

rose for it’s flowering during the Capricorn Sun time following winter solstice, few of ours 

actually bloom until March or April but then there is no stopping them. Each year they 

grow in breadth and strength and carry Capricorn toughness and determination in every 

cell of their being. The bees love them, slowing down to inspect them diligently with respect.

   Heronswood Yellow Strain #2

                           Kingston Cardinal

Virgo Moon. Busy as a Bee.

Virgo days, like these last two, are busy and full of details, fortunately backed with a lot of energy, usually, to do the many tasks at hand. A growing, waxing, Virgo moon heading toward full in spring adds to the momentum trifold. Even if it snows again this week, there is no stopping that momentum now!

About noon, as I headed over toward the area of the garden I intended to clean up, our dog, Percy, was acting strangely, as though seeing something that wasn’t there. Then I heard it, too. The HUM. As I turned the corner to where the winter heaths were in full bloom in full sun, there they were - a hundred newly awakened honey bees frenetically blazing from flower to flower as fast as they could go. SO fast that they couldn’t be seen or photographed as much more than a blur. Time was of the essence as the sun wouldn't be on the heaths very much longer and there was still chill in the air. And the heaths were at their peak of freshly opened, just at the same time as the arrival of the bees for this somewhat late first feeding of the new year. Phew…we are all so ready for spring.

Our honey bees rule our house, for they were living here in a corner of the attic before our family bought the house nearly 50 years ago. They don’t bother us and we don’t bother them. I learned many years ago that they need food immediately when they emerge in late winter or early spring, so I planted the heaths near their hives. In winter some of the heaths get beaten up by the winds, but these are well protected by hedges and thrive better than any others I have grown.  They are Erica carnea ‘Rosalie’ and if she likes where she is, Rosalie will spread happily over a large area making a great many bees and people happy. 

And there is nothing quite like a big HUM after the silence of a long winter.

Moon in Leo. Fire trines. The Show must go on.

It would be hard not to feel energetic at the moment
with so many planets in fire signs, many of them in supportive
trine with each other. Yesterday's awakening to a wintery flashback of 3"
of new snow dampened spirits only briefly while plans to view a friend's
extensive collection of unusual snowdrops appeared to be cancelled.

While the sun rose and gathered strength, I read my new, old favorite book,
The New Terracotta Gardener, by Jim Keeling. First written in 1990 and published
in a revised, expanded paperback version in 1997, 
it is the best written history of the terracotta pot that I have encountered. But that is only the beginning, for the major part of the book is photos of pots planted by leading gardeners of the time. If you need ideas for filling pots this year, here's the place to go. Everyone who loves pots must read it, though alas, it is no longer in print, and there aren't many used copies left on Amazon, so ask your older gardening friends if you may borrow theirs. Happily this author has dedicated his life to making pots in the old traditional ways and continues to do so at his pottery in Warwickshire, England. The Whichford Pottery is alive and well and thanks to this accomplished man of fire and earth his ancient craft continues with new generations of pots and their makers.

Moon in Leo and Sun in Aries along with Mars and Uranus, I knew that snow had to melt enough for those snowdrops to strut their stuff. And by noon the tour of delicate snowdrops was back on!

Magnet

 Wasp

 Spindlestone

 Daphne's Scissors

Comet

Moon in Cancer. First quarter.

Hamamelis 'Jelena'

All week I have been watching the earth soften. As it let go of its rigidity 

it soaked up the rain and the last snow as though deeply thirsty. 

The dry grasses and old leaves have taken on warm yellow and russet tones, 

different from the winter gray so prominent for three months now. 

The final rot of the old cycle is at work and the earth reaches up to devour it.

At dusk last night, I ran out in the drizzle, lightly stirred some soil in the potager 

and threw in some of last year's lettuce and arugula seeds. They were greedily 

gobbled up by the black dirt so eager to get started back to work. As am I.