So. Our ‘Secret Garden’ adventure this spring began with China’s take on things. Hmm…

Look; I actually like China. She’s a fine specimen of a cat. We have the odd adventure together. (Outside; we Faeries don’t venture indoors. Not good environments for us.) She’s all right in my book.

But she knows diddly about plants. And flowers. And shrubs and trees- I guess you get the picture. You see, when the Secret Garden at East of Eliza’s comes alive in the spring, it’s really for our benefit. The Faeries. Even if the humans don’t understand this, and think it’s all about commerce

So while China’s greeting was a nice enough place-filler, on this post (yes, the two-legged big ‘uns are still rather ‘indisposed’ with all the work required to maintain the wonders of the place), we’re going to be expanding things a little;if we can work out an arrangement with the store’s version of Queen Mab, we might be coming back occasionally to infuse you all with more literary Faerie dust. Give you some insight, explain, maybe even introduce you to some elements of our little world that you may not have been aware of.

Today’s topic is thyme. Thyme has so many little joys to bring to anyone who has a relationship with their garden, or container, or even just their kitchen, for that matter. Not only is it reliably lovely, but can be very hardy once established and very practical in its uses. There are plenty of varieties to chose from, according to both your needs and fancy.

This is how Faeries mostly see things as we fly about The Secret Garden

The ground-covering varieties are frequently used between the stones of path way or patios. These grow in a low, creeping manner with a height somewhere between one to four inches, a delicious, aromatic carpet for your toes as it doesn’t mind being trod on. ‘Woolly Thyme’ is pleasing to use for such purposes. It has a dense, mat-forming quality, it is grey/green in colour with tiny soft hairs on the leaves. There are also the more mound forming Thymes such as ‘Golden Lemon’ with its yellow and green variegated leaf and blissful aroma, or ‘Wedgewood’ Thyme, prized for its beautiful foliage. These are wonderful as both borders for beds or as a bit of delicate spill for your containers.Most varieties bloom, tiny flowers on mass in white, or a wide range of pinks and purples. ‘English Thyme’ (thymus vulgaris) is the most common of the family, as well as the most often used in culinary adventures. It has a neat mound like shape and can grow to the height of about 12″-18″. The care of this little gem in you garden applies to most of the Thyme varieties available to us here in Toronto. It enjoys the sun and lots of it, and happily for those of us who live in this neighbourhood, poor soil with good drainage.

Although it may survive part shade for the garden season, it won’t establish itself as a permanent addition to your plant community. You can throw an extra layer of mulch over the plant for protection over the winter, but do make sure before doing this that the ground is not wet or soggy in any way. Thyme likes things dry and the roots will rot very quickly in this scenario. Once it is happy, it is hardy and will return each year and take over the space you give it. Thyme will ultimately grow in any old nook and cranny, so long as the conditions are right, because for all its domestic uses, it has its wild side. It is, after all, what you plant to invite Faeries into your garden. If you choose to ignore this little bit of lore, so be it, but be warned; you may just find yourself on warm summer’s evening, slipping off those tiresome shoes to walk barefoot on Thyme and find yourself dancing in the light of the moon. This is when you’ll feel very close to us Faeries.

Yours in The Secret Garden,

Thorn Moontwist

I promised a bathing suit clad post didn’t I?

I did  manage spend 10 glorious days in January on
Anna Maria Island just outside of Sarasota on the oh so astonishing Gulf coast of Florida.

sun sand and water

So where’s the vacation  post?  I was having way too much fun to even think about work or blogging.

Here’s what I will say about my holiday- Holy Bio Mass Mother Earth!

Just a few scant years after the disastrous BP oil spill this extraordinary planet we are so privileged to call home  is working overtime to repair the damage.

Never in all my time as a devoted amateur student of Nature have I seen so much flora and fauna .

Plants still dazzle me and  although  most of what I saw in cultivated spaces was familiar there were a few I did not recognize among the usual array of hibiscus, crotons, bird of paradise, ixora and the like. A beautiful tree with leaves like the sea grape -round leathery and blooms that looked very like hibiscus save for the fact that they began as buds deep red and changed to pale buttery yellow as they opened!

Oh and the wild areas – nature preserves, State Parks and even just along the highway, nature had my head whipping this way and that.  Of late I have been trying to cultivate a more Zen like in the moment attitude and curb my virgo word loving obsession to name and know everything therefore I deliberatley DID NOT bring any books with me.

Since I dropped my Iphone in a toilet my roaming data plan was of no use either  to cheat with!

The result alas no latin binomials to taunt you with- no pictures either !

So the Flora and now the Fauna

Firstly, the birds were amazing, migratory species and permanent residents abound.

I added at least 40 to my life list ( that is if I actually kept one!).

It’s hard to say what was the most exciting sighting – the 4 wood storks  casually standing on someone’s lawn or the great blue heron perched on the roof above them.

No actually the  I think it was listening  to night hawks and wondering what species of owl was hoo- hooting in  the large pine trees on the edge of the beach on the night of the full moon.

The flocks of green quaker parrots, phoebes, ospreys, bald eagles, red tail hawks, wood ducks, ibis, egrets, bitterns, king fisher- nah hands down -it was the  saucy white cockatiel I met in Everglades City. First he made goo- goo eyes at me then climbed up my arm to my shoulder into, with nary an invite, the front of my t-shirt from which he had to be gently but forcibly extracted!

Skinks, snakes, teeny tiny ‘gators and whoppin’ big 14 footers, dainty little Florida sized raccoons, wild pigs, white tailed deer and a divine encounter with a river otter were  just some of the inland animals we saw.

Combining two of my most favourite activities- horseback riding and critter spotting on a 4 hour trail ride through the Myakka River State Park was just heaven.

Riding

Last but by no means least the Ocean – We started each day with a long beach walk- Anna Maria boasts 9 miles of wide white talcum powder beach on the side we were on.

The water was a shade between turquoise and green and actually warm enough,  for hardy Canucks used to the Great Lakes, to swim in .

Most astonishingly, the ocean just teemed with life.

I am not naive enough to think that all is well in the aftermath  of 2010′s disastrous spill and I know from reading there are still hundreds of lives and livelihoods affected.

I suppose what  this abundance of life  made me think most of is what the earth must have been like before we humans started stomping all over it with our distorted notions of “dominion over all other life forms”.

We continue to wreak havoc and yet still our beautiful Mother Earth does not turn her back on us.

I am reminded of a quote from an First Nation’s  elder at an early post rachel Carson environmental forum, when asked what we can do to heal Mother Earth , he replied “Stop hurting her”

So forgive me for my tardy delivery on the bathing suit post but I am still digesting the wonder of ten days of bliss in Eden feeling and bit starved  on our more austere   Nature diet here in the frozen North.

The closest thing to seeing me in a bathing suit…