Looking back and forward . . .

Hammock City & the reading respite awaits your visit this summer.

Benchmark data suggests "Blog early, blog often." Marketing gurus suggest that businesses that publish blogs 11+ times per month receive twice, sometimes 3.5x the traffic. Funny thing though — I couldn't find any data that suggests giving your readers a break for, oh... say... 14 months — is good for traffic.

I haven't officially blogged since November of 2015 — you are welcome. I've been writing, studying, gardening, speaking and doing life. Somehow in the midst of not-blogging, I also received the opportunity to help plan the American Hosta Society National Convention in Indianapolis June 7 - 11, 2017 and our gardens will be one of the "What to do Wednesday" open gardens to tour. The Indianapolis Hosta Society had a pre-convention tour last June as a "warm-up" for the big league tours and a few weeks later, we headed to Missouri where we thoroughly enjoyed private St. Louis gardens at the 2016 Convention. (I'll share gorgeous photos of those later.) I also have the blessing of heading to India with a team of student change-makers in March. (More on that later — but hoping to see my two gardening buddies at the Red Fort again!)

Meanwhile, I just wanted to let you know I am Simply Cultivating in all areas of life.

cultivating: to prepare and/or loosen up the soil 
12a:  to foster the growth of b:  to improve by labor, care, or study :  refine: cultivate the mind3c:  further,  encourage — cultivate the arts4d:  to seek the society of: make friends with 
Here's a few photos from 'the yard' — 

Without a wooden bench to ponder, is a garden truly a garden?

That 15-foot fountain, made from smooth river rock . . . we fell in love with it and somehow
dragged it home from the Indiana Home & Patio Show in March 2016.
We have instituted a new garden rule to ask one question when purchasing anything:
"How will we get it home?"

It's simple — the art of arranging words on paper to create something
new and original is quite similar to the art of arranging plants in a garden. 

A well-used wheelbarrow makes a great rock garden for succulents.

Love the texture.

[Insert favorite summer-time song here]

My 4-year old nieces and nephew's favorite path through the Hostas.
Hosta 'So Sweet', H. Guacamole, H. Great Expectations, et. al. 

A well-used garden — so many memories of graduation parties, Easter Egg hunts, 'after the Indy 500'- dips in the pool, Labor Day parties, Birthday celebrations, . . . lots of little footprints in the grass growing larger. 

This summer I said to know one in particular:
"Why did I never straighten this Dogwood when it was growing?"
My daughter Chloe reminded me:
"Ma, that's one of the Indiana trees we received for Arbor Day in third grade and planted."
I love its' crookedness. 

Let me know if you enjoyed these -- if not, I promise I won't bother you for another 14 months.  And if you want to find out more about the American Hostas Society Convention here in Indianapolis click here: Indy Hosta 2017Leaning in, Janet Hommel Mangas 

In the midst of the suffering and ugliness in the world, let us seek and have gratitude for small blessings and beauty.

I have taken quite a fancy in how my 'sea-weed' Girly Steel sculptures complement the rust-orange color of our three staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina,) also known as velvet sumac. Had I known two months ago when we purchased these at Penrod Art Fair at the Indianapolis Museum of Art Gardens, that a big buck would again jump the cow fence and use the sumac on the right as a rub and midnight snack -- I would've bought more to act as a fence. 

In the midst of the pain, suffering and ugliness in the world, let us seek and have gratitude for small blessings and beauty.

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: Haters gonna hate, but creatives gotta' create.

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: Haters gonna hate, but creatives gotta' create.: Haters gonna' hate, but creatives gotta' create. I n the middle of two writing deadlines and an unfinished Bible Study a few week...

Haters gonna hate, but creatives gotta' create.

Haters gonna' hate, but creatives gotta' create.

In the middle of two writing deadlines and an unfinished Bible Study a few weeks ago, I got this urge. Maybe it was the onset of a deep desire to procrastinate — of which I am am considered a master craftsman. But in reality it was a beautiful, 59° autumn day and the sky was radiant with warm sunshine and raining leaves. 

I actually tried to talk myself out of it, but after three attempts bolted out the back door. When my husband curiously questioned, "whatcha' doing" — as he watched me criss-cross around our five-acres of leaves — I could only answer "I don't really know." 

I just had this urge to create a palette of color before these living organisms faded away — and this is the result:

I believe all artists — whether we act, sing, paint, garden, design, cook, draw, tell stories, write, play music or dance — get the urge to do what we're created to do because we were first "created in His image." The Creator created us to create. An no matter how silly it may seem at the time — sometimes you just gotta' open  the closet and grab the Play-doh.

What are you creating today?

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: My Garden Doesn't Sleep at Night

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: My Garden Doesn't Sleep at Night: My garden doesn't sleep at night — I have proof. Last evening on a cooler-than-usual July evening in the Indiana Heartland, I got an u...

My Garden Doesn't Sleep at Night

My garden doesn't sleep at night — I have proof.

Last evening on a cooler-than-usual July evening in the Indiana Heartland, I got an urge right before bedtime to grab my camera and set out into the dark of the night. I should warn fellow gardeners with a disclaimer that this 'extreme garden photography' sport can be dangerous and is not for the faint of heart. I didn't stop to think about the coyotes that roam the 100 acres next to our 5-acres. I didn't even care that I could have easily tripped and fallen face-first, probably bruising a knee from the garden hoses that someone left in the yard (yep, it was me.) Nothing would deter me: no skunks, raccoons, nor horrid voles or slugs that like to taunt me by nibbling on my prized hosts —  I was on a mission to find out what my garden looks like at night.

Here's the proof that my garden doesn't sleep at night.

Echinacea purpurea — purple coneflower that are beginning to attract the the gold finches. 

Hosta "American Icon" — a sport of H. "Choo Choo Train"

Tricolor ornamental pepper plant

Liatris spicata, the prairie gay feather 

Red Salvia seems to light up the night

(clockwise from top left) Hostas
'Great Expectations', "Sleeping Beauty' another 'Great Expectations' and 'Blue Angel'

Temari Red Verbena will continue to flower until frost.

Okay… maybe this one does sleep.

Thanks for stopping by Simply Cultivating —
and thank you for leaving a garden footprint with a comment or just say hello!

It is no wonder so much of gardening is done on one's knees: the practice of horticulture is a wildly humbling way to pass the days on Earth. Even the root of the word "humility" comes from the Latin humus (for "earth" or "ground"), and a good soil is rich in the paritially decayed plant and animal material we call that very thing.   — Margaret Roach

This summer I've been humbled by not only the beauty of the gardens I've had the opportunity to visit, but humbled by the hospitality of the gardeners. Gardeners are a unique breed of people — they are of the earth and grounded.

Last month in my Daily Journal column I wrote about my new friend Andrew Marcinko who had his buddy Tim Alford serve snow cones during their garden tour — best idea ever!
During this same Johnson County Garden Club's annual  ‘Stroll through the Neighborhood” we were invited to tour the phenomenal home and gardens of Indiana artist Raymond and Barbara Turner. 

And today I received my September/October issue of the Indiana Gardening Magazine published by State by State Gardening — I couldn't help smile when I turned to page 52-55 and recalled hanging out with Indiana Hosta Hybridizer Randy Goodwin. He's kind of a big deal and hero— and very involved with the Indiana Hosta Society and American Hosta Society.

Here are a few photos:

One of Randy and Susie Goodwins water features

Goodwins path to hosta heaven — which includes many that he has hybridized.

I love hanging out with gardeners — the good .scent of humility lingers
More to come later...thank you for stopping by!

The Best Use of a Garden...

My midwest garden had a fresh snow dump of 7-inches six days ago...and today the yard is brown and not quite emerging — soooooo.... the best way to add color is to add lots of people and celebrate Easter!

Easter, like spring, displays Faith.

Isaac enjoying the 59ºF Easter.

The triplets and Walter

Cousins Grace and Nev.

Drew celebrating his first Easter — 8 months old

Added a little color with a dozen lavender plants. 

Grandpa Frank hands out the big eggs.

Cousins Phoebe and Madi — high school juniors

Faith — one of the triplets

The glazed look means they were ready to eat.

Grandpa Frank with some of his grandchildren.

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: Indiana Flower and Patio Show — these are a few of...

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: Indiana Flower and Patio Show — these are a few of...: Like the song from the Sound of Music: These are a few of my favorite things ... from the Indiana Flower and Patio Show  In l...

Indiana Flower and Patio Show — these are a few of my favorite things.

Like the song from the Sound of Music: These are a few of my favorite things...

from the Indiana Flower and Patio Show 

In living color.

 A great vertical garden display by Primary Grounds.

 Fun use of cobalt bottles used as a border.

 Who wouldn't love a fun tool shed like this?

 I'm definitely going to use one of our many dead logs as a planter this summer.

(breathe in deeply and sigh...) spring is on the way...

Do You Believe in Life After Lo...pping?

Do You Believe in Life after Lo..pping?

During February’s dreary dormancy, my nineteen-year-old daughter called from Indiana University.

“Mom, I’m helping a friend with a fundraiser. Do you think I could cut some branches for 30 vases to decorate the table tops?”  (And by “I,” she actually meant  “you.”)

“It’s a black-tie event in the Student Union.”  (And by telling me it was a black-tie event, she meant, prune from the living shrubs, not grab the ugly stick pile that was lying next to the compost pile.)

“We’re making paper flowers to attach to the cuttings.”

It just so happened that my husband and I had discussed trimming back the burning bush earlier that week, so the timing worked out well.

As I pruned 30 branches from a row of eight burning bushes, I began thinking about the  creative organic opportunities between lopping off a branch and the trip to the compost pile. With a slight edit to Cher’s song: “Do You Believe in Life after Lopping" — how do you upcycle your organic material before they hit the compost pile or shredder? 

Burning Bush Money Tree Gift
Euonymus alata "Compactus" commonly known as Burning Bush have corky ridges on flat, horizontal branches, which are perfect for a table top design. I cut these quirky branches for my daughter’s black-tie fundraiser, and the girls in her house made and attached colorful paper flowers to them. In the photo below, I chose to make a simple burning bush money tree, which can be used as a table décor in a vase with river rock for graduation, retirement or birthday gifts. The dollars were accordian-folded and attached with hemp string.

Wisdom learned from my little 'ole fig tree — stick a fig in it!

Wisdom from my little ole’ fig tree?

People have sewn them together and worn them, eaten them as a laxative, and grown them for thousands of years. It’s named in the Tanakh, New Testament and Quran. King Solomon mentioned them around 940 B.C. and Charles Dicken’s in 1848 rewrote a proverb using it.

In my new adventure of being a fig farmer, I wanted to share what my figs taught me today.— (I am currently growing three Chicago Figs  in my Zone 5b Heartland Garden — Ficus carica “Hardy Chicago.”

Monday of this week, it was a beautiful 70˚F and gardening was blissful. Tuesday we got our first central Indiana snow. Although the snow melted on impact, I am doing research inside today.

Figs are the first tree mentioned in the Bible. They are also the most mentioned fruit —over 47 times. Figs represented peace and prosperity.

But in James chapter 3, he warns listeners how evil our tongues can be. James 3:7-8 notes that “every species species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. “

This was especially true during the 2012 Presidential Campaign as Americans chose sides.

James further explains by using analogies in (3:11 – 3:13):

…From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

As Matthew Henry wrote around 1706: A truly wise man is a very knowing man: he will not set up for the reputation of being wise without laying in a good stock of knowledge; and he will not value himself merely upon knowing things, if he has not wisdom to make a right application and use of that knowledge. These two things must be put together to make up the account of true wisdom: who is wise, and endued with knowledge? Now where this is the happy case of any there will be these following things:—1. A good conversation. If we are wiser than others, this should be evidenced by the goodness of our conversation, not by the roughness or vanity of it. Words that inform, and heal, and do good, are the marks of wisdom; not those that look great, and do mischief, and are the occasions of evil, either in ourselves or others. 2. True wisdom may be known by its works. The conversation here does not refer only to words, but to the whole of men’s practice; therefore it is said, Let him show out of a good conversation his works. True wisdom does not lie in good notions or speculations so much as in good and useful actions. Not he who thinks well, or he who talks well, is in the sense of the scripture allowed to be wise, if he do not live and act well. 3. True wisdom may be known by the meekness of the spirit and temper: Let him show with meekness, etc. It is a great instance of wisdom prudently to bridle our own anger, and patiently to bear the anger of others. And as wisdom will evidence itself in meekness, so meekness will be a great friend to wisdom; for nothing hinders the regular apprehension, the solid judgment, and impartiality of thought, necessary to our acting wisely, so much as passion. When we are mild and calm, we are best able to hear reason, and best able to speak it. Wisdom produces meekness, and meekness increases wisdom.

So, in short, I learned from my figs, James and Matthew Henry:

Words that inform, and heal, and do good, are the marks of wisdom; not those that look great, and do mischief, and are the occasions of evil, either in ourselves or others. — Matthew Henry

Now, I just need to pop a fig in my mouth to temper my tongue every time I’m tempted to use words that look great, and do mischief and are the occasions of evil. And when I don’t have a mouthful of fig, to use words that inform, heal and do good — marks of wisdom.

Wear them, Eat them as a laxative, Grow them...

People have sewn them together and worn them, eaten them as a laxative, and grown them for thousands of years. It’s named in the Tanakh, New Testament and Quran. King Solomon mentioned them around 940 B.C. and Charles Dicken’s in 1848 rewrote a proverb using it.

"Train up a fig tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade of it." — Charles Dickens 

Anyone else growing Figs?

I’m a fig farmer — we’ll technically I’m currently only growing three fig trees. Since I live in the Hoosier Heartland, I am growing the hardy variety: Ficus carica “Hardy Chicago.”

My ‘Hardy Chicago’ Figs that grow in my “gotta’ be tough to survive Janet’s Hoosier Heartland Garden’ are doing well.  High-yielding and easy to grow, it produces delicious medium-size figs. They are drought-tolerant once established — and I unashamedly admit that I planted three in the late fall of 2011 and this summer only lost one. All three died back, as expected, during the winter and resumed fervent growth late in spring. But I noticed after a record-breaking severe drought where many Indiana counties were declared natural disasters and I couldn’t possibly water everything [my way of alleviating the guilt] that one of my little figs had succumbed by August. After all I did buy her (and her two brothers) at Lowes  on clearance for only $2.98 each.  I was so enthralled with my Fig Tree triplets (before the drought) that I bought a beautiful three-foot Chicago Fig from the Indianapolis Museum of Art Perenniel Premiere on April 21^st. She is lovely and has produced nine gorgeous antioxidant-filled figs on her first summer at our home. She will be overwintering inside this winter — the other two will tough it out.

If I didn’t tell you already — the ‘Hardy Chicago’ Fig variety will die back in colder climates and resume growth in spring. They are heat-tolerant — well, 3 out of 4 are.  The figs ripens mid summer to late fall and are self-pollinating.

And in case you didn't make the connection, Eve sewed fig leaves together to make loin coverings (Genesis 3:7)

My potted Ficus carica 'Hardy Chicago' May 2012

Interesting article about the recent discovery and ongoing research of an elaborate ancient garden near Jerusalem which was home to a wide variety of exotic imported plants. — including the indigenous fig tree:

http://israel21c.org/social-action-2/the-secret-life-of-plants-in-an-ancient-royal-judean-garden/

more on figs later...

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: When in Drought...

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: When in Drought...: 22 days, 7.5 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds When in Drought… Since we haven't seen a speck of moisture fall from the sky in about...

When in Drought...

22 days, 7.5 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds

When in Drought…

Since we haven't seen a speck of moisture fall from the sky in about 22 days, 7.5 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds (or something like that) I started thinking about droughts — probably a result of major dehydration from the extra hours of watering my new plant stock.

Naturally, I also began to think about the word 'doubt.'  When I later googled the phrase "When in doubt..."— I found a few answers: 

When in doubt — throw it out.

When in doubt — take more time.

When in doubt — mumble.

When in doubt — sing loud.

Benjamin Franklin said: When in doubt — don’t.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said: When in doubt — do it.

But how would you finish the phrase: When in drought?


When in drought  — ____________________________________________________.

A horrible sight...
What happens during a 90°F drought when you only water a hanging basket once a day.

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: A June visit to my Greenwood Indiana garden...

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: A June visit to my Greenwood Indiana garden...: Come into my garden and relax —  I hope you enjoy the colors and textures as much as I do. If you've neve...

A June visit to my Greenwood Indiana garden...

Come into my garden and relax — 

I hope you enjoy the colors and textures as much as I do.

If you've never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, 

plant a garden.  ~Robert Brault

Come back and visit y'all!