​Recently, while strolling through the botanical garden in the heart of the bustling city of Atlanta, I came across a sight that stopped me in my tracks.  What I saw was a 25-foot living sculpture of an Earth Goddess.  Now that’s something you don’t see everyday.
 
I did some research and learned that the Earth Goddess was originally created by Mosaicultures Internationales de Montreal.  Atlanta Botanical Garden leased her at first, but then fell in love with her and purchased her for a mere $1.5 million in 2010.  The goddess has been a permanent fixture in the garden ever since.
 
To create this Atlanta icon, artisans welded thin rods with sheet steel to create a framework for the plants.  The frame was then covered with a liner and filled with soil.  There is an irrigation system beneath the sculpture so the staff can control the amount of water the plants get.  Every spring, a team of 15 horticulturists spends six to eight weeks plugging the liner with approximately 17,000 annuals.  Gardeners pinch the plants down so they won’t grow too tall and spoil the effect.  The Earth Goddess is maintained daily by the horticulture team during her growing season from May through October. Nothing is too good for their favorite gal. 
 
The living sculpture looks different each year based on what plants they decide to use.  For her tenth anniversary, her hair was made up of orange and purple SunPatients, pink begonia, red vinca, and chartreuse duranta. 
 
I usually use only my own photographs in my posts, but since I won’t see her when this year’s flowers have matured, I’m including one below that I found on the Atlanta Botanical Garden website.  

​An annual rite of spring to celebrate Isabella Stewart Gardner’s April birthday is the elegant display of hanging nasturtiums at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum located near the Fens in Boston.  I have visited the museum many times over the years, but this was the first time it coincided with the nasturtium display.   
 
When I stopped taking pictures for a moment, I noticed a woman delicately working one of the vines. I introduced myself and told her about the Grantham Garden Club, that I'd be posting a blog about the nasturtiums, and asked if I could take pictures of her working.  Sydney is one of the seven horticulturists who works full time for the museum.  As she continued deadheading, Sydney graciously answered all my questions. When I asked her how long it takes to deadhead the plants she told me she is never really done.  Spoken like a true gardener.
 
The museum has greenhouses in Hingham, Massachusetts where the nasturtiums are grown from seed.  It takes nine months for the vines to reach their impressive 20 feet.  That’s nine months of close care by the horticulture staff. They grow the variety called 'gleam.'  Although they come in many colors, Isabella chose a particular shade of orange which has been the color used by the museum for over a century.  As the seedlings grow, any that don't have the particular shade of orange that Isabella so loved are culled.  
 
After a few weeks of warming spring weather, the decision is made to move them to the museum which is quite an undertaking.  Each of the 18 plants weighs about 50 pounds but has to be handled with care by an army of staff and volunteers.  I imagine their collective breaths are held as the vines reach each stage of transportation—from the greenhouse to the truck—to the museum—draped on the museum floors, carried to the third floor, lowered from the  windows.  Sigh ;-) 
 
The nasturtium are on display at the Gardner for three short weeks. This year’s will be removed on April 14.  The Dunbar Free Library offers discounted tickets.  (The library is my go to place when I’m planning museum trips so here’s a big thank you to the Friends of the Library.)  If you can’t visit this year, there’s a dedicated group of people who are going to make it all happen again next year, and the next, and...

When I recently visited Arizona for a few weeks, it was a nice respite from frigid Grantham with lots of hiking opportunities and lots of cactus.  My favorite cactus is the saguaro. I saw thousands of them and even hugged one.  What I love about saguaros is that each one is different and has its own personality. The best time to take their pictures is at sunset so I made sure to visit saguaros every evening.   Saguaro National Park has more than two million saguaros.  I took pictures of about a million of them ;-)
 
A great place to see them is on Tumamoc Hill, a butte which looms over the city of Tucson.  Hundreds of people walk the three mile round trip every day.  Everyone is super friendly and shares information about the saguaros.  That’s how I learned about 'Ramona,' whom I was told is the most loved cactus on the Hill.  So many people have given her a hug that she no longer has spines on her lower trunk.  It’s impossible to give Ramon a hug without smiling. 
 
A threat to saguaros is the invasive buffelgrass.  The volunteers of the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers meet three times a month to pull this highly flammable grass.  These dedicated volunteers have cleared thousands of acres of buffelgrass over the past 25 years. 
 
Here are some facts I learned about them from a park ranger on a sunset walk at Saguaro National Park:
 
Saguaros only grow in the Sonoran Desert and range from central Arizona to Sonora, Mexico.
 
To procreate, they grow large white flowers on the top of their heads and ends of their arms which are pollinated by bees, bats, and birds. The more arms they grow, the more flowers, the more opportunities to ensure their DNA  continues into the future.
 
The next stage is a red fruit.  People have eaten them for centuries. Tastes like chicken (only kidding:-)  
 
If a seed is lucky enough to land in a suitable spot, it takes five years before a cute little saguaro can be seen. 
 
They start producing flowers at around 35 years of age.
 
Arms start growing between ages 60 and 80.  Most have two to six arms.  The record holder is a saguaro named 'Shiva' that’s located in the Ironwood Forest and has a whopping 40 arms. 
 
They live to around 150 years and can reach 30 or 40 feet tall. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, an armless saguaro grew to 78 feet.
 
Their roots are shallow but are as wide as the cactus is tall so that a lot of root. 

I’m always happy when I get a text from Jim or Amelia Lantz inviting me to pop on over to their place on Mill Pond to see some wonderful new sights like munchkin-sized merganser ducklings following their Mom, or a family of three otters churning up the water, a fruiting Jack-in-the Pulpit, or a newly felled tree by a local eager beaver.   
 
When I arrive, I usually walk around with Jim to see the latest happenings, take a bunch of pictures, and then sit on their wide swing, where we bask in the beauty of the Mill Pond and discuss philosophy. It really is a break from the hustle and bustle of life.  Amelia, on the other hand, almost never takes a break.  Among her passions are pollinators in every shape and form as evidenced by the pollinator paradise she has created for them in their yard. When we’re quiet, we can hear them buzzing.  
 
Now I’m excited to share a new way of experiencing Mill Pond.  Jim and his son Daniel with the help of AI have composed a lovely song called “The Ballad of Mill Pond.”  Find a comfortable spot, close your eyes, and listen at  ​https://suno.com/song/90e75798-5a77-4e8f-ba61-55534b0f11aa

I had the pleasure of helping Grantham Garden Club member and hobbyist beekeeper Amelia Lantz run a program for Eastman’s All Day Gang and Kid City campers this summer. 
 
Amelia is beekeeper who participates in the Kearsage Beekeepers Association or KBA (https://kbanh.org). She is passionate about all species of bees and how vital good habitat is to all parts of our ecosystem. Amelia speaks for KBA to public groups, works in the their apiary in Sunapee, and helps teach at their Bee School in Newport on five Saturday mornings starting in January. (Yes, you too can sign up if you’re interested.)
 
The campers, who ranged in ages from 4 through 12,  dressed in bee veils, jackets, and gloves. They handled Amelia’s tool belt and the smoker used to calm bees when the hive is opened. The hit for the children was the observation hive that Amelia brought which contained 15,000 lives bees.  Amelia pointed out the queen.
 
Campers were given hive boxes, frames, covers, and a stand to figure out how to build an actual bee hive. This led to discussing the pioneer history of beekeeping in the United States. In the 1860’s, Ohio beekeeper, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, was essential to the industry becoming standardized. A teacher, clergyman, and pioneer; he improved the existing hives and built and patented the moveable frames inside the hives which make it safer for the bees and beekeepers and still used worldwide today.
 
Beyond all this information, Amelia’s main take-home message for the children was clear “Please eat only local raw honey.”  Raw honey has enzymes that activate nectar.  It has bits of pollen (protein).  Raw honey has the anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-viral qualities that heated, filtered, blended honey does not.  Local raw honey is the real deal.
 
Local Raw honey can be purchased in the Upper Valley at:
Beaver Pond Farmstand
Bouldevale Farm
Rum Brook Market
King Blossom Farm
Edgewater Farm
Kearsarge and Upper Valley Food Coops
Sutton Farmers Market
Spring Ledge Farm
Grounds Coffee Shop
 

​ Many Grantham residents attended the April 22nd event sponsored by the Grantham Conservation Commission (GCC) “Local Successes in Restoring the American Chestnut Tree”. We had three speakers who did a wonderful job of describing the history of the American Chestnut Tree, the blight that killed virtually all (4 billion) chestnut trees and the current effort to restore the American Chestnut tree to our area. The New London Conservation Commission has a robust effort underway and one we hope to model as we develop our own Grantham Restoration Project.

This is a new project for the GCC that will be implemented on the Town Forest land. There is much to do in assessing the ideal location for planting, soil preparation prior to planting, seed planting in pots 6-9 months in advance of seedling planting, protection of the seedlings from rodents and deer, and eventually statistic tracking as the orchard becomes established and developed in the coming years.

Our effort began with the acquisition of 30 American Chestnut seeds from The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) in early April as part of their Annual Seed sale. These seeds had already spent 60-90 days in cold storage to give them the sense of winter conditions (cold stratification) so that they would be ready for planting once we received them. Those seeds were immediately planted in pots and housed in a heated woodshop with exposure to some light. One thing we had to keep in mind is that not all seeds will germinate, sprout and produce a seedling so we needed to set our expectations accordingly. As of today (approximately nine weeks after planting) we have 19 thriving seedlings that were moved mid-May to a greenhouse. We’ve attached a couple of photos.

The plan is to plant these seedlings early this fall in the Town Forest. Over the couple of months we’ll be evaluating the soil conditions and identifying specific planting locations for the 19 seedlings from this, our 2025 crop. We’ll be clearing away underbrush, weeds and laying weed barrier in anticipation of the planting this fall.

Our goal for planting seeds in early 2026 will be to not only acquire seeds through the TACF Annual Seed sale but to also seek seeds from the VT/NH TACF chapter as we continue to work with them in their harvest of seeds from the American Chestnut trees near Barre, VT. This is an annual event for them and allows them to offer seeds locally to members of TACF who have chosen to also be members of the local chapter. We expect that we could have between 50 and 80 seeds to plant next Spring which could yield 30 to 50 seedlings.

A member of the GCC has volunteered to assist the New London Conservation Commission in the planting of their seedlings as well as adapt some of their existing planted seedlings for appropriate deer and critter protection so that we are well positioned to do the same when we initially plant our first crop next Spring.

We will provide periodic updates on this restoration project and will welcome those residents who wish to participate in the planting this fall. If you are interested in assisting please email me at [email protected].