Two for Tuesday, a Poem and Fingerwag

I love before and after shots. This isn't the beginning and the end, but two shots of Earth Day. We planted 9 Martha Gonzales roses and 3 Cecile Brunner's on a pergola that I designed for the back entrance of the Baptist church across the street from me. I moved into my Crestview Bungalow in '97 and watched 5 mature trees die and NOT be replaced and approached the church several times about replanting. They didn't have the interest, but I found one minister and he had one fellow, Melvin who were willing to work with me to help their space.

This shot is Earth Day '09, two months after we cleared and planted the tiny roses on Valentines Day. It was me, my husband Greg, my neighbor Regine and Melvin...Melvin's wife made coffee for us, it was a bitter cold morning!


Regine, another neighbor Susan and I spent 3 hours pruning, for the first time just after Valentines Day this year, and here are the mature roses on Earth Day '11.


The reason I'm focusing on this success story is that on April 9th, this year, the church decided to "clean-up" the garden. The minister that we'd worked with, long gone had been replaced by a fire and brimstone fellow, then another and Melvin had gone back to not talking to me because I don't share his beliefs. The only garden they have, outside the central beds that are not visible to the neighborhood, are the rose garden and the 17 trees I wrote a grant for and organized neighborhood volunteers to plant and care for, 3 years ago. No one spoke to me, even though many of the church members know who I am, and Melvin is still the grounds keeper.

With dull tools they systematically butchered 13 of the 17 trees, some with fruit and blossoms and topped 4 oaks. The oaks were strategically placed to relieve the heat island effect caused by the enormous parking lot and to cool the building like the mature trees they'd let go, and not replaced. A few of the trees were donated by neighbors, that they had nursed before and after planting that held sentimental meaning.

My two neighbors to the east, Regine and Dana and I have been caring for the trees, pruning when necessary, buying our own compost and watering for the obligatory 2 years as said by the TreeFolks contract. After we realized what had happened, we cried. We wrote letters to the new minister explaining the situation and he replied with an apology and a promise to repair, what they could, of the damage. I asked him to call me, said that I'd put together a packet of information about gardening practices but to please, immedately compost and deeply water the poor trees that had just lost their spring growth and to replace the oaks, now topped in the fall.


To date they have done nothing.

Thank goodness we were able to save the roses.



What is still puzzling to me is why? How can it be, in this day and age that anyone could not find "when to prune and how to prune" information within minutes on the computer? I am sickened everytime I walk out my front door, but am not surprised that the church is not keeping their word.

I leave you with one of my favorite poems by Joyce Kilmer printed in 1914.



Trees


I think that I shall never see

a poem as lovely as a tree.


A tree whose hungry mouth is prest,

Against the earths sweet flowing breast;


A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;


A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robbins in her hair;


Upon whose bosom snow has lain

Who intimately lives with rain.


Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.


I hope your EarthDay was rewarding, there is much to do.

CBC Update

I've been meaning to post about the various projects at the Crestview Baptist Church, my neighbor across the street for sometime now. If you scroll down to the bottom of this blog you'll see a variety of short snippets in the left column and lots of photos cataloging various beginnings of earth related projects chronicling the last 2 years. Two of these projects continue. The first was a collaboration with Tree Folks, my neighbors and friends on Dartmouth Ave and the CBC. We planted 17 trees two years ago this November. Of the original planting, 15 trees made it through the hottest summer and coldest winter since the 50's...which I think is wonderful. The other is the Rose Garden seen below, on Earth Day 2009, two months after we put in 9 Martha Gonzales Roses, and the day we installed the Solitary Bee Habitat and two Cecille Bruenner climbers on Melvin's Pergola.

They don't look to shabby for 2 month old roses!


And here are the two climbers and the bee-box.

Melvin loves concrete...you should see his backyard. Anyway, the sign appeared without a word...I called him when I saw it, at that time...I don't think he knew my name yet.

Here is a view looking up Dartmouth...the trees are doing great! The grass that we'd removed came back, it was St. Augustine in full sun! Bermuda has taken over...not what I'd planned, but what can you do? Bermuda is hardy and I'm stunned that it grew over 8 cubic yards of Davey's Mulch...which really isn't mulch, but super rough wood chips.

On Valentines Day 2010, the rose garden was merely 1 year old. If you're not convinced that location and proper planting make all the difference in the world...you should see my puny Martha Gonzales planted the same day, which is almost exactly half the size. What the church has that my yard does not, is space and full sun...two main ingredients to successful roses.

The roses cover the wall, are stunning and in 2 years time should cover the pergola. I haven't seen Melvin in months, they got a new "fire and brimstone" preacher since the projects of '08 and'09 and that seems to make all the difference, there. All relationships ebb and flow, and the CBC has been my neighbor for nearly 14 years. Right now, they've let all the plantings that Melvin and I did in the parking lot for last years Earth Day die, but the Martin box remains. We (Regine and I) continue to try and explain what is a plant and what is a weed to the ground crew, who weekly whack down flowers that we've been trying to establish on the space between the sidewalk and street. But, the roses thrive, and the trees are taking root. By the time the children born on our block in the last two years are grown, our street will be lined with fruit and flowers and Mother Nature will have the last word.

Happy Gardening,

and thank you to all the wonderful people who helped with these projects!

Earth Day April 22nd, 2009

One year ago today, on April 22, 2008 a few of my neighbors and I decided to cross the street and meet our other neighbor...the Crestview Baptist Church and offer up a beautification project.

I had recently finished the TreeFolks "Citizen Forrester" program and was excited about planting trees as I'd watched 5 die in the 12 years I'd lived in my house. I'd done this before and was met with some harsh judgement but decided to try it again as there was a new pastor with the title "Neighborhood Liaison." His name is David Tobey and sadly, he no longer lives here but he was the first person to listen and agree that something needed to be done. The property was all St. Augustine and the sprinkler ran in the middle of the day half the time and often had water running down the street due to broken heads.

I applied for free native trees, and got it! We were given 17 trees and were able to rally some 20 neighbors and several Church folk to join in. The Church provided a delicious taco and Iced Tea luncheon. The event took place the first Saturday in November and we were able to get 8 cubic yards of free mulch from Davey's Trees and I pitched in the organic fertilizer. My next door neighbor Dana pulled out free T-shirts for everyone who stayed to the end and we all made new friends. It was wonderful

Melvin installing the Solitary Bee Habitat, gift of the 2009 CAMN graduating class.

This man, Melvin Sawyer has become my friend and hero. He's 81 years old and can work any man I've met this far in my life, under the table...without complaint and only a Dr. Pepper or two to keep him going.

On Valentines Day this year I offered to put in a rose garden for the church. Melvin and his wife JoAnne showed up to help, as did my lovely French neighbor Regine. My husband Greg, myself, Regine and Melvin installed 9 Martha Gonzales roses after digging out and prepping the beds. JoAnne made us coffee as it was freezing that morning, I made Melvin's favorite cookies, oatmeal raisin.

A few days later I was walking by with my dogs and noticed he'd made a concrete sign that reads "Thanks 2009" with a heart, he told me later he didn't know how to spell my name. To say Melvin is a man of few words, is an overstatement.

About a month later, Melvin built a few benches and sunk them in concrete for the folks walking by. When I caught up with him I told him how much I loved them, the following day I found one for me on my front porch.

Melvin digging a hole for the roses on the Pergola

A few months later, Melvin and I had a conversation about building a pergola...for more roses. Melvin spent 50 years as a carpenter and loves a challenge. He build the Pergola along with 4 benches in a few days. He then added benches across from all the neighbors houses so they could sit and watch the trees grow.

Melvin's Pergola with Cecille Bruner climbing roses.

Yesterday, for Earth Day he and I worked 5 hours straight. We pulled weeds, fed and watered the roses, repaired a trellis for a tree that was leaning, and planted climbing roses along with natives on two islands in the parking lot.

This is the ugly little island...

Here's Melvin turning the soil..."we don't need a tiller" he said.

Here's Melvin attacking the other abandoned island.

We left a spot at the end, but planted Salvia Greggi and Mexican Feather Grass on the other end. I had been telling Melvin about the Purple Martin Habitats and how I thought the empty parking lot would be a perfect place as the birds could see it in the clearing. He said, I can build that...can you get me a pattern? Yes, I can do that.
When he finishes, we'll put it in the center of the grassy end of the island, then we're going to plant Bulbine and Hymenoxis around the pole.

In the afternoon my friend Jennifer who lives at the end of the street came strolling down and joined in the clean-up efforts! Thanks Jenji!

The Bee Habitat on my front pergola faces south and is about 8 feet from the ground.

And, like the good neighbor Melvin is, after he finished at the Church he helped me put up two Bee Habitat's at my house. I couldn't have imagined becoming such good friends with Melvin, we at first seemed to come from polar opposite ends of understanding the spiritual world...but with that shelved, we realized that we have a world of things in common. I truly enjoy his old school gentlemanly nature, his love of all things "good n' tasty", and things Texan. We both have a hard time understanding folks that prefer to sit on the couch and watch TV rather than actually doing something and have a work ethic that says, no problem...I can do it, quickly and correctly. I've learned that even though he says he doesn't know a thing about flowers, Melvin has a beautiful yard, that I'm helping him care for and have installed the things that he likes in my yard...I put up signs so he could learn the names of the flowers, and he likes that. He's got lots of bird houses and bird baths and his yard is nearly a wildlife habitat now. Melvin has helped me build an extension to my pergola, that he built with just auditory instructions...no need for a drawing, he just waved his hand and got to work. We've been exchanging plants and projects, talking about the future of the property, our kids, how Austin is changing...it doesn't matter what, it's always kind and gentle and I genuinely love spending time with him. Earth Day has become my favorite holiday for many reasons. I love devoting a day to someone else's space, knowing that my neighbors and passersby will enjoy the changes they see. I like the lack of material responsibility: buying gifts and tacky repetitive songs...that it's not about who gets what or who might feel left out, if you choose not to participate...then that's your choice. We all live on this planet, some folks believe that we're destroying it, others don't but we can all get out to make it better... and if we all did, imagine the sense of community we would be creating.

I asked "How did you spend Earth Day" on my face book page and got some great answers...from swimming at Barton Springs to planting a vegie garden, to taking my kids to the park...awareness is the first step and I'm open to hearing your ideas about next years

Earth Day.

Happy Gardening

Seeing into the Future

The corner of Woodrow & Dartmouth Av. Live Oak, Cypress, Peach trees

I wish I'd have been walking around with a camera because Saturday morning was awesome!
There wouldn't have been anyway to capture the neighborhood spirit though, it's intangible.
11 years I've lived on this block and I was amazed at how it all came together in the end...or rather, as you can see by the stick trees...the beginning. The project began last spring as a collaboration between the East side neighbors of Dartmouth Av and the Crestview Baptist Church...an unlikely pair. 5 trees down in a decade, left the backside of this 1970's brick block staring us in the face when we left our houses and yards of pavement cooking in the relentless heat of full summer sun. Today, 17 infant trees mark the beginning of change and growth. We had some 30 volunteers, including children and ladies from the CBC who graciously provided us with a taco buffet for lunch and coffee in the morning. In less than 4 hours all the trees and 8 cubic yards of mulch later we are looking at, again...the beginning of change.

Yesterday, I was working at Zilker, and explaining to my volunteers what had happened over the weekend and how we were able to bring some unlikely people together. Our side of the street with straight Obama signs and a parking lot that's been full of Bush/McCain supporters and not a person on our street in attendance or ever having stepped foot in the church or on the property sat down to eat and worked throughout the day...together to help improve the street we live on and love.

It's no surprise that this blog is appearing days after the fact. The energy around here and on our street has been so charged with optimism that at a neighbors house last night several of us popped the cork and ushered in what we feel with every cell of our bodies is something bigger than our street view...but an exciting, healing, peaceful change that we are proud to be part of and are amazed for our children as their world view has just been expanded!

Today I'm filled with brimming hope for our nation and also the earth. I wish every vote for Obama were a tree in the ground, rooting this full bloom of optimism. I think though that for true healing we all must come together and help each other understand that the beginning of a new era resembles a grove of freshly planted baby trees. It requires an agreement among neighbors and nation that we will all step up and get involved in the care and support of responsible new ideas. There isn't time or place for cynicism and doubt. Let's get to work!

Happy Governing and Happy Gardening!

Stay tuned for phases 2 & 3 of the CBC Beautification Project: The rose garden and pergola!
All Trees provided by TreeFolks, mulch proved by Davey Trees & Labor of Love provided by
the citizens of Dartmouth Av and the Crestview Baptist Church