Book Review: The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben
I loved this book. I would have to say it is the best book on the science of plants that I have ever read.
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Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
Kenrokuen Garden
One of the reasons we traveled to Kanazawa was to see Kenrokuen Garden. It is officially designated as one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. Why aren’t there officially Three Great Gardens of the United States? (Although if they were designated now, strings would undoubtedly be pulled to make one of them Mar-a-Lago.)
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Kanazawa’s Omicho Market
Visiting Omicho Market was definitely one of the highlights of Kanazawa. The market is a warren of narrow covered alleys lined with up to 200 stores. Judy and I love markets generally, and this is a good one. We went there every day during our time there.
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Kanazawa Castle
OK, back to Japan. We left Tokyo, going by train to the much smaller city of Kanazawa, a historic castle town.
One of the gates to Kanazawa Castle.
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Hey! Breeder! Leave Those Plants Alone!
I realize I’ve ranted on this topic recently, and I don’t mean to be tiresome. but I find it impossible to shut up on the topic of silly cultivars. If this means I am turning into a crotchety old man, so be it.
My last post on this theme focused just on the genus Echinacea, but of course all sorts of genera are being turned into a mockery of their former selves by plant breeders in search of novelty.
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We’re 6 Years Old Today!
When my kids were little I used to watch Sesame Street with them. Sesame Street was much better back then, in the early 90s. Not that I’ve been watching it so much lately, but maybe when we have grandchildren.
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Mourning Doves
In addition to Goldfinches, we’ve also got plenty of Mourning Doves. Sometimes I think we have too many Mourning Doves. Not exactly a rare bird.
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Hungry Goldfinches on a Snowy Day
We’ve had lots of Goldfinches this winter, more than in recent years. They’re all over our two nyjer seed feeders.
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Book Review: Grant, by Ron Chernow
The eve of Martin Luther King Day seems an appropriate time to write a review of Ron Chernow’s new biography of US Grant, the commander of Union armies and two-term president. Chernow’s book shows that Grant’s life and posthumous reputation are tied up in the struggle for racial equality.
During and after his life, Grant has been subject to a great deal of criticism. He has been portrayed as leader of a corrupt and ineffective presidency. He was also characterized as a military leader who clumsily overwhelmed his more skillful adversaries with massive force, generating massive casualties in the process.
Chernow’s lengthy but very readable biography provides a different portrait. He shows that the denigration of Grant, like the deification of Robert E. Lee, (and the associated statues), were both part of a political project to rehabilitate the Confederacy and justify the Jim Crow racial caste system that emerged in the latter part of the 19th Century.
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A Tokyo Power Garden
You’ve heard of the power lunch, power walk, and power nap, right? Well, Koishikawa Korakuen is a power garden. It was commissioned in the 17th Century by a member of the ruling Tokugawa clan. The name means “the garden for enjoying power later on”, at least according to the Tokyo Parks website.
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