Getting Ready for Spring Gardening
The snow pile on the deck is as high as I can remember it. We have real plow banks in the yard that the dog scales more easily than I do. The only things that are relieving my cabin fever these days are one of last summer’s geraniums that is blooming, my blooming orchid that I wrote about last week and the gardening books I read in the winter to help me rethink my approach to gardening in summer.
I’m facing the reality that I can no longer go out and garden for eight hours with only water and lunch breaks. I need to be more gentle to my body. That’s one reason that I delved into Jan Coppola Bills book Late Bloomer - How to Garden with Comfort, Ease and Simplicity in the Second Half of Life.
In it she talks about this time of life being a time to experience the greatest gardening enjoyment. She talks freely about making mistakes in gardening, learning from those mistakes and figuring out what’s really important in gardening.
Her first chapter is on simplicity and sustainability, which Coppola Bills calls her “liberating philosophy.” In it she points out that she’s never had anyone — client, fellow gardener or friend — ask her how to achieve a high maintenance garden. Any gardener knows that no garden is completely maintenance free but Coppola Bills advocates keeping things simple, minimizing maintenance and still having a beautiful garden.
She also talks about gardening with comfort and ease — including stretching, good tools to make the work in the garden easier and comfortable clothes.
Coppola Bills also covers such important topics as garden placement, garden styling, how to deal with limited space, dealing with garden chaos, plant choices, weeding, converting lawn to garden and growing food.
Coppola Bills came to professional gardening later in life, trading in corporate attire for gardening clothes and she talks about her journey and shares what she’s learned. And probably the advice I like most is that on relaxing and letting go — in her words being “perfectly imperfect.” And that is what I’ll strive for this summer… a perfectly imperfect garden that restores my soul without breaking my back.
If Coppola Bills book Late Bloomer sounds like something you’ve been looking for — a garden book that veers from the traditional style of garden books — there are several ways you can purchase it. You can contact your local independent bookseller or find it on Amazon by following the Buy on Amazon button below the visual of the book’s cover. If you do buy this book by following the link in this article, I may receive a commission.
Note: I'm a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
