In my initial posts, I characterized After Eden as an investigation of gardens as places of repose in an otherwise chaotic world, as places of beauty reflective of the age they were created in, as cultivated, enclosed places that protect us briefly from the unruliness without. Or, as I wrote at the conclusion of the …
This post has been a difficult one to write. That fact that it has taken me six months to write it should be a clear indication of that. I visited Savannah, Georgia, the end of June intending a post on the squares in the historic district, providing a little background context on the Oglethorpe plan, …
Continue reading "live oaks and leopard plants in Savannah’s squares"
After Eden, Cain killed Abel. That sentence has been going through my mind since the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. More accurately, that sentence has been lurking in my mind, shadowing my mood since 27 October. Initially I thought those five words might be the beginning of a poem, but the …
At this month’s meeting of the Blount County Master Gardeners a fellow member gently, almost embarrassingly, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I really miss your posts in After Eden.” She thought I had stopped writing. I have not stopped. But I have not written--at least I have not written recently for After Eden. …
I’ve certainly been off of my intended schedule of one post about every three weeks. It has been a few more weeks than three since my post on the Koutoubia Gardens, also known as Lalla Hassna Park, and the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech. The delay, though, is certainly not because I have lost interest in …
I didn’t go to Morocco to visit gardens, but I definitely wanted to visit gardens while in Morocco. In particular, I was looking forward to touring through the Dades Valley, famous for its pink Persian roses and the production of rose water. Unfortunately, the time was not right and there was little to see. But …
The need for this post came upon me as I was looking around the late winter garden at the lake. It was just a few weeks ago in early March. Everything was rather bare. Mottled green and maroon Trilliums were starting to open, pale gray-green Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) was beginning to bend softly over to …
I am a medievalist. I spent my academic career teaching medieval literature, especially the Middle English literature of the 14th century, and its appropriation for a vast array of artistic, social, and commercial causes by the 19th, 20th, and 21stcenturies. I like Oxford. Its spires, narrow streets, and granite and limestone walls feel familiar, warm, …
As I begin writing this, it is cold in Alabama—not cold for Alabama, cold in Alabama. It is midafternoon and only 26 degrees, with a wind that makes it feel like 16. It even snowed a snow that stayed around for more than a few hours a couple of weeks ago. Another winter storm threatens …
Being the holiday season, I thought that a post on garden books would be a timely plan. And I had three very different, but good, books chosen. Lorraine Harrison’s, How to Read Gardens: A Crash Course in Garden Appreciation, was the first. A quick read with beautiful photos, the compact volume is filled with basic, …
After Eden 