Draine: Two suggestions to ease the transition from summer to fall

By Cathie Draine, Special to the Journal | Monday, January 01, 2007

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

It’s hard for many of us to see the gardening season end, whether it has been a bountiful and satisfying one or not. We seem to want to keep our hands in the soil, on the tools — or in our house around the current favorite books.

So consider stashing away some gardening treasures to appear again under the Christmas tree or in a birthday box. Here are two suggestions.

The first is a glorious book, “Women of Flowers,” subtitled a tribute to Victorian women illustrators.

The second suggestion is to investigate a new line of superbly ergonomically designed hand tools, natural radius grip by Radius Garden, available now in Rapid City.

Women of Flowers

“Women of Flowers” is written by well-known author Jack Kramer, who has written a number of books and articles in the area of horticulture. It is published by Harry N. Abrams.

The book is an elegant, artistic book filled with delicious botanical illustrations done by 30 women who were not recognized professionally during their lifetimes.

Not only were many virtually unknown, others were absolutely heroic. Elizabeth Blackwell drew from life, engraved the images on copper plates and hand-colored the images of medicinal plants to produce “The Curious Herbal,” published in 1738 to raise money to free her husband from debtor’s prison.

Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of the famous author James Fenimore Cooper, spent most of her life in service to her father. She became a capable self-taught naturalist and botanical illustrator.

One of the artists, Miss S.A. Drake, left an astonishing body of work but virtually no information about her life.

Two sisters, known only to history as Miss Maund or Miss S. Maund contributed illustrations to two well-known botanical publications, “The Botanic Garden” and “The Botanist,” both published by their father in England in the 1880s.

One of my favorites is Maria Sibylla Merian, a hugely talented European (Swiss father, Dutch mother, German husband) artist who became fascinated by insects as well as flowers. She decamped with her two daughters to Surinam (Dutch Guinea) in South American in the later 1690s to study and draw insects, a new pursuit in the natural sciences. She had a productive, courageous and long life.

One of the most amazing women was Mrs. E. W. Wirt, who in addition to being a hostess for her prominent husband in Virginia in the 1800s, raised 12 children, and produced “Flora’s Dictionary,” a collection of her paintings, bits of poetry and botanical history.

This is a beautiful book. But don’t just leave it on the table. It needs to be read with the same delight and appreciation as that felt by the artists.

Ergonomic hand tools

At last! Garden tools that have truly been designed for the comfort and safety of the gardener. Radius Garden LLC has re-engineered hand tools and shovels, and they are wonderful.

The bright green thermoplastic handles of the trowel, bulb trowel, weeder and cultivator are slightly larger than ordinary and curved like a pistol grip. They cause no pressure pain in the palm or heel of the hand. The aluminum-magnesium blade is light, strong and effective in the soil. And the design of the tool places the gardener’s energy flow in a straight line from the elbow to the point of the tool.

It is the big tools — the spade, transplanter, shovel, digging fork, weeder, bulb auger and edger — that truly look reconfigured. I like the large, one piece, circular handle.

Does it look strange? Possibly. Is it comfortable and safe? Absolutely. The handles have a steel core shaft and the faces of the tools are stainless steel.

But the most interesting feature is that the tread or kick — missing on cheap spades, rolled on better ones — has been redesigned with a larger than normal, forward-facing level tread or kick area on both sides.

This feature not only provides more surface for driving the spade into the soil, it also provides support for the ball of the foot rather than putting pressure (often incorrectly) on the instep.

The hand tools are in stock at Jolly Lane Greenhouse now. The larger tools are expected after the first of the year. The prices are moderate for a lifetime tool. (Check their Web site at www.RadiusGarden.com and check the links under “resources”).

I ordered the weeder (it looks like a little cayman alligator) because, frankly, I couldn’t believe it would work. I was wrong. I love it and bought the other three tools in the set.

Think (a bit) ahead

Visit area greenhouses and nurseries and ask what wonderful items they ordered at market for next season. Get some gift certificates now for later giving. Check out the sales. You will be relieved to have some of the shopping done at home right now.

Cathie Draine is a member of the Garden Writers Association and a SDSU/Pennington County Extension Service Master Gardener. She lives and gardens in Black Hawk. Readers may send comments or questions to her in care of The Rapid City Journal, Box 450, Rapid City SD 57709.