2010 in review

parkermeyergarden — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 08:55:11 +0000

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 8,700 times in 2010. That’s about 21 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 13 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 145 posts. There were 22 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 30mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 3rd with 88 views. The most popular post that day was Hellebores and Haute Couture.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were digginfood.com, squidoo.com, en.wordpress.com, blotanical.com, and blogcatalog.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for peacock, peacock pictures, hellebores, garden path, and compost.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Hellebores and Haute Couture December 2008

The Garden Path January 2009
3 comments

How Do You Make Square Pavers Look Great? December 2008
2 comments

Pleached Lindens Make the Best Screens October 2008
2 comments

The Poem “The Camellia” by Honore de Balzac December 2008
2 comments

The Minimal

parkermeyergarden — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:49:52 +0000

I asked my great friend, Randall Lake, for a photograph of his compost pile very recently. I knew it would be good- but how could I have known it would be this good? For all my internet friends out there who allow me the usurpation, I have only this response:

The Minimal

I study the lives on a leaf: the little
Sleepers, numb nudgers in cold dimensions,
Beetles in caves, newts, stone-deaf fishes,
Lice tethered to long limp subterranean weeds,
Squirmers in bogs,
And bacterial creepers
Wriggling through wounds
Like elvers in ponds,
Their wan mouths kissing the warm sutures,
Cleaning and caressing,
Creeping and healing.

-Theodore Roethke

Minimalism

parkermeyergarden — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:44:34 +0000

When I begin to dream of house decor and styling my own, this photograph comes to mind. Something about an all white, white room and stacks of books on the floor appeals to me greatly. Maybe the conceptual economy of the surrounding space coupled with the physical reductive quality of what a plant needs to thrive alongside you in your civilized invention of home is soothing to the cluttered mind. A drawing of lots, even, that makes the human in the case at ease with itself. And, of course this little tree is poetic to me. What else does anyone need, really?

Queen of the Nymphs

parkermeyergarden — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:55:51 +0000

This is my first one. The first one I have ever seen, much less, in it’s native lands. What a lucky find for me in Indonesia! The Nelumbo nucifera, or Lotus flower, was originally name in the genus of Nymphaea, or Water Lilly, only to be re-classified very recently. And, why this re-classification, you might ask? Wow. Check this out: The Lotus Flower is discovered to have thermoregulating powers. The Lotus warms itself, much like a human, to about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (and, thereabouts) during the pollination season to keep itself warm for it’s insect pollinators! What?? Thought by the Greeks to be goddesses of the Springs to compliment the gods of the Rivers, they still have their peacock proud, majestic, nympho-like allure, don’t they? Nelumbo or not.

Orchids In Their Natural Habitat

parkermeyergarden — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:37:15 +0000

Last year I travelled to the island of Bali in Indonesia and climbed (on the back of a motorcycle, mind) to the mountains outside of Ubud to see the orchids at the Botanic Garden of Ubud. The orchids were everywhere growing, as the imagination might perceive, all over the trees. It was wonderful to see this elusive plant thriving in it’s natural habitat…without the instruction manual and the calendar marks for spraying mist, etc. This photo above is merely one sample. Can anyone name that orchid?

Oh, The Linden Tree

parkermeyergarden — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:28:14 +0000

Or, Tilia japonica, to be exact. Not to be confused with Tilia cordata or Tilia europa…though, this nearly perfect plant grows in so many different cultures of the world that I find myself falling in love with it for it’s open mindedness. My great friend Mark and I strolled along this romantic path together in Tokyo and this is the photograph that he snapped. Imagine my surprise to find this London like boulevard of Linden in Asia. The Linden is truly egalitarian and upright and social (can be crowded and planted quite close to another one) and healthy. It is no wonder so much of the world’s greatest writers have penned homages to this one. Here is a poem in the

Paris Review

about the Linden just for you.

Tea Party In Tokyo

parkermeyergarden — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:22:07 +0000

I have been travelling around Asia lately photographing gardens. The Japanese take the cake in the 21st century for their style And, the 4th. And, the 14th. They essentially have three types of gardens, most of the influences begins in 400AD with Buddha and they continued to finesse until the 14th century. Karesansui Gardens, or Zen Gardens as we refer to them in the West, are the dry gardens that are abstractions…the box of sand with rocks and the rake, you might recall? These are for meditation. And, of course they exist not only in the miniature you are familiar with. Tsukiyama Gardens are the style that really makes the gardeners of the East famous with the gardeners of the West. These are the majestic sculpted gardens. I will talk more of these later as I have visited one of the style in Tokyo. And, finally, Chaniwa Gardens. Tea Party Gardens. The fountain above is typical and the visitor is to cleanse his hands before partaking in the sacred green Tea Party. The fountain is followed by lanterns and the lanterns light a path and the path leads to a tea house that is generally kept amongst the flora and out of site. These are the gardens that support the Western decorations of towers of cemented lanterns and fountains and such that are curiosities of our garden supply shops. In Charleston, South Carolina we have many formal gardens that have such accoutrement in them. The Tea Party was all the rave in the colonies, brought to America vis a vis the Dutch who colonized New Amsterdam (New York). The Dutch had the most magnificent Eastern trade on the ocean and brought with them the tea. Think about a serene scene and not these very, very misguided and embarrassing rallies that are going on across the United States today. The influence of the Japanese Tea Garden is one of my favorites: peace and harmony in the pretty garden.

Do You Say Pecan or Pacane?

parkermeyergarden — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:55:43 +0000

I don’t know how many Americans would recognize this grove at this distance to be a quintessential Pecan grove, but, most Southerners do. We live amongst so many of these deciduous trees and pull the fruit of them from our windshield wipers all Fall and Winter long. Every time the breeze kicks up, Pecans fall all over our landscape and our grandmothers bake pies. This particular grove is part of Brookland Plantation in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. And, I always find the leafless fields in the cold season to be a lonely and lovely sight. I came across a really fantastic article here from the American Forests website, written by a botanist named Jeff Ball, that points out that the word pecan comes from the Algonquin tribe of American aboriginal/First Nations inhabitants to mean the nut so hard as to require a stone to crack. Maybe the Algonquins didn’t run across the Sumner Paper Shell variety or maybe that variety is a modern grafting product and didn’t exist when the tribe was pounding the nut wondering what they should call it. Mainly, I sit around and ponder the reason there is such a nasty, bitter slice in between so tasty and wonderful a prize. And, of course I can get into a conversation about the pronunciation…So how do YOU pronounce the word? It still is unsettled with me.

The Potting Shed V

parkermeyergarden — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:09:09 +0000

I keep wandering out to the country this Winter and I can’t seem to embrace an Urban existence. And, in my hometown the country is called the Lowcountry. South Carolina’s coastal plain is filled with neat things to visit and most recently I have found Botany Island and it’s subsequent park, Botany Bay Plantation to be just lovely. I ran right into this gardener’s shed on the now public lands dedicated to the Department of Natural Resouces. I was so excited to see this little gem with it’s oyster tabby walls dating to the late 1700′s that I ran back here to research the potting shed. And, boy did I find quite a lot of material on the history of the shed, from a philology of the word shed across Teutonic translations unto philosophical derivations of the existential “shedliness” of the word shed. My interesting trek through the Google myriad of articles led me to laugh out right with this one from the Telegraph UK. Leave it to the English to corner the market on a precious potting shed contest!

Tokyo and the Olive Tree

parkermeyergarden — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:01:39 +0000

I had to travel all the way to Japan this year in order to consider the climate they might experience. And, no doubt about it, I was surprised at just how humid it was this September past. I was in Tokyo. I loved it. The gardens and garden shops were fabulous! However, I never lingered over the idea that the islands that make the Japanese chain (remember that I was on Honshu) are sub-tropical, Mediterranean- style Olive Tree (Olea europaea) growing extravaganzas. They have festivals that celebrate the olive and offer the plant as a symbol of peace, as well. So, imagine my delight when I cruised past this shop and saw the silvery, silky, sexy Olive Tree for sale. It was an “ah ha!” moment because Japan sits on the Pacific Rim just like California and has limestone and craggy coastal shores. Olives love it there. Now, I begin to dream of tuna sashimi with a diced kalamata ponzu sauce. And, I thought it was going to be 100 % bonsai cedar, cypress, junipers and soba noodles…