The Glorious Putter

It has been a long cool, wet spring for most of us in the northeast. It seems to be all people can talk about. And I must admit that it has been an arduous season for the Provincetown Gardener. I was in hospital in May for a biopsy that proved to be negative, thankfully. But the insuing incisions, medications and aches and limitations have slowed me down measureably. Carrying a few bags of manure is no longer taken for granted, and neither is spending six hours in the garden. My afternoon naps, that were once considered a decadent luxury, are now a necessity. So, all this to say, that once again, the garden has proved to be a place of healing and peace, and I am back to ninety percent of myself.

I have always loved the word "putter". My father used this word liberally when I was a child. When asked what we had been doing, he would say "we were just puttering around" or "we're just going out to putter" or "why don't you go outside and putter". The word could include any number of activities from responsible household chores to indulgent peronal enjoyments. I always think of my dad when I use this word and I found that it has become an important part of my recovering physical therapy. Maybe Dad is trying to tell me something.

Now I have told you that my energy level has been compromised over the last weeks, so my usual day long stints of rigorous gardening have been reduce to a series of "putters".....or "putterings". I am able to wander guilt free from little task to little task in such a way that I have seen the garden in a whole new light. What was once an ambitious list of "chores" to be accomplished in a limited amount of time, has now become a wonderful series of projects that take just as much time as they take. We finish when we finish, and then I go take a nap. I think I may have finally discovered some of what Dr. Phil calls "balance". Does it take something as dramatic as a hospital stay to throw you off balance, so that you may regain your real balance? Is that what life is, a constant searching for balance? Like when you first try to learn to ride a bike?

Also, the frantic "A.D.D." pursuit of accomplishing things perfectly has lessened. So I don't flip the compost pile this month, so some of those weeds in the bird area will wait, it will all still be ok. This reminds me of one of my favorite garden writers of all time, Mirabel Osler. I remember getting my first book of hers that is entitled "A GENTLE PLEA FOR CHAOS". This book was a revelation to me and I keep it by my bed so I can refer to her sage advice whenever I am feeling overwhelmed. She advocates for a bit of the "rough edge" in the garden. Let it be loose. Let it be free. Let it be wild and beautiful. This is not to say that we let it all go....to the contrary. It is just that we quit "white knuckling" every single task we take on. Get the project going, put thoughtful work into it, and let it happen............and don't be worried if some leaves still remain untrimmed, or the roses aren't dead-headed..........it is still good. I am sure Ms. Osler is a "putterer".

This also brings to mind another mentor of mine, Diana Vreeland. She said something to the effect (and I paraphrase) "TRUE CHIC INVOLVES A LITTLE IMPERFECTION". And then there is the famous interior designer, Billy Baldwin, who advocated that every room needed a little something "wrong" to make it right. Imperfection is beautiful in it's own right........like that woman you see that has everything "right".....the dress, the hair, the shoes, the bag....she makes an entrance and she accidently stumbles and giggles, and instantly she is beautiful, she is human...she is REAL.

Even though the spring has been long and cool and wet, our April daffodils and alliums and tulips were magnificent, in May our bearded iris were a triumph, and now, in June, our roses are fantastic. We have been bringing in bouquets of the frangrant David Austen rose, 'Gertrude Jekyll' and 'Graham Stuart Thomas' and 'Tamora'------ I am living my fantasy. Yes, there has been some mildew. Yes, there have been some aphids. And YES, my oriental poppies rotted in the ground..........but it has been a BEAUTIFUL SPRING.

I have learned the lost art of PUTTERING, and I have relearned the beauty of Imperfection. What a releif! Now i can go out and enjoy our garden.