1“I don’t like being bored. Good designers get bored easily.” —— Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.
I feel you, Isaac. Sometimes folks ask me what kind of gardens I design. It's frustrating because the expected answer is some category: Formal, Modern, Meadow. But I don’t like categories. I don’t cook with recipes. I don’t even like off-the-shelf gifts.
“What do you want for your birthday?” Tom asked. I told him the truth. It might have been more than he wanted to hear, “ I want an 80-foot long, 20-foot tall bamboo trellis shaped like a ski slope.”
He thought a minute, then said, “Well, you have to get the giant bamboo.” He never loved bushwhacking in the bamboo forest, timbering, dragging, and de-leafing bamboo. Some people are like that. We built the trellis, and man-oh-man, has it been the gift that keeps on giving. My old passion for vines finally had a new place to rekindle. These rows of crinum lilies, rows, and straight lines fall into the boring category for me. Now, they had a new plane, an aerial curve.
As the writing of ‘Garden Disruptors’ progressed, I got into the boring parts. Parts of writing are exciting. But at some point, you have to move on to the nuts and bolts. Organizing chapters, fact-checking, and rereading chapters to make sure timelines work, that sort of stuff is hard for me.
Unlike my other three books, which are organized as short essay chapters, mostly about plants, this one is about people. It has an overarching storyline. People fall in love, people plant palm trees, they have affairs, and they cook supper together. It’s not the Young and Restless, but if there are people, there’s drama. The timeline matters. If Person A falls for Person B; it's kind of important that they've actually met. In my head, I know the story of how they met. But in the book, I have to go back and make sure it's there, in the right place. It is tedious.
I do it on screen first. Then I print out hundreds of pages and read with a pencil in hand. Then, I read aloud. I get tired of my own words and the world of the story.
My escape became a few rows in the crinum fields near the ski slope trellis. Very early spring, I looked at the 80-foot-long dormant space, and I imagined it in summer if I did nothing. It would be rows of crinum. Lots of pink flowers. But exactly like the other 40 rows. Boring. Call me jaded. Isaac M would say, easily bored. I decided this would be my garden to design for the summer and fall.
I started seeds of four new plants that would become favorites. Salvia ‘Rambo Red.’, Edible leaf okra, snake gourd and Long Upo gourd. No need to draw up a plan; the vision lived in my head even before the seeds came in the mail. Sometimes, people ask me to describe my process for garden design. Often, I can’t. I dreamed it. I saw it. And I knew how to make it happen. I started with dry seeds and helped them sprout. I potted up seedlings, cultivated them, and transplanted them. I nurtured the new plants with water and donkey poo. I pruned. That is an important and difficult step. (Sometimes salvia and gourds needed to be cut back hard). And at the right time, I let go. They knew what to do.
Seed to flower. It’s a timeline.
Making a garden this way is also a risk. The new plants could be bad actors. The unwritten plan could go awry. But the experimentation is what keeps me engaged.
This new book comes partly from my getting bored easily. It’s a new style for me. Tom’s been right there to help me build the structure. Since he wasn't part of my life in those days, he's been helpful with making sure timelines and people flow in and out properly too.
A museum friend reviewed parts of the book for me this week and said, 'It's where arts and culture collide with queerness.' This book, like my gardening, will defy categories. Does it fit into garden design? In to arts and culture since it happens in a living museum? Is it a memoir? I don't know what shelf it will go on. All I can tell you is the timeline flows, the plant and flower information is spot on, and it won't be boring.
Here’s a great short essay on writing time frames. For writers, it’s how-to. For readers, it’s a peek into the process, including how things can get wonky.
I am so looking forward to this book!! I’m reading every part you post with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning. I know or met or worked with so many of your people or at least I feel like I know them. Cannot wait for the next post!!!
Love this one! And love that trellis.