THE WHISTLER IS BACK                     

Welcome to “Gardening with the Whistling Gardener”.  I started this column back on March 7^th of 2001 and for 6 years dispensed gardening wisdom to the masses until 2007 when I decided to take a sabbatical and recharge my batteries.  So now that I am back I should probably take a paragraph or two to reintroduce myself to all you gardeners out there that may not have a clue who I am.  Please bear with me during this formality.

I am Steve Smith a.k.a. “The Whistling Gardener”.  For the past forty plus years I have had the privilege of working in the field of horticulture from San Diego to the Canadian border.  While growing up in Southern California I spent many a summer mowing lawns and working in yards planting flowers, weeding and pruning.  At fourteen I took my first job at a small garden center.  One of my responsibilities was to plant petunia baskets for the upcoming high school graduation.  To this day the smell of petunias takes me back to high school graduation!  Isn’t it wonderful how certain fragrances can transcend us to another time in our life.

As a sophomore in high school I realized that studying and working with plants was going to be my chosen career and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.  So from high school I went on to receive a degree in Environmental Horticulture from the University of California.  After three years in the Army band in Virginia and two years in Nepal with the Peace Corps I settled down in Central California to a career as a Landscape Contractor.  For fifteen years I designed, installed, and maintained commercial and residential landscapes.  I also managed to squeeze in some community college teaching during that time.  In August of 1989 I moved my family to the Great Northwest and purchased a local garden center where I have been having a great time sharing my passion for gardening ever since. 

So now that you know a little about me, let me tell you what I would like to do in this column.  My plan is to discuss gardening related issues that are specific to our maritime climate.  We will be exploring the wonderful world of plants and all the “way cool” ones that everyone should find a place for in their yard.  I’ll tell you what’s blooming this week in my garden and how to grow it.  Sometimes I’ll give you a weekly checklist of things you should be doing.  I’ll share some of my gardening secrets that will reduce your work and increase your pleasure in the garden.  We will dialogue about “sustainable gardening” and other trendy subjects and what that means to the average home owner. 

In short, I will cover a multitude of subjects.  But remember that this is a two way street.  I can prattle on endlessly about things that interest me but ultimately I need to know what interests you.  To that end you will need to send me your gardening questions so I can respond to your specific needs.  You can do that easily by emailing me at info@sunnysidenursery.net and I will not only reply directly to you but I will also publish my responses so the rest of the gardening community can benefit as well.  If it will help, think of me as a Dear Abby with a horticultural bent.

I am a firm believer that gardening should be fun.  It’s a time to be creative and to escape our hectic lifestyles.  It brings pleasure to the senses.  It gives us immediate gratification.  It’s therapeutic, a healthy outlet for all our frustrations.  It’s recreation and exercise (in a fun way of course).  It’s an opportunity to get outside and breath the fresh air and commune with nature, to revel in God’s creative talents and imagination.  It’s an activity that adds value to our property and a sense of pride to the community.  Gardening lifts our spirits.  Immerse yourself into a well-planted garden and I defy you to be in a bad mood.  It just isn’t possible.

So in the upcoming issues I will answer your questions and share with you subjects that interest me.  But most important, I will always emphasize the need to have fun and enjoy gardening.  It is as much an art as it is a science.  Don’t get neurotic on me.  Relax, get daring and get dirty.  Create a garden that beckons you into its heart.  It will be one of the best investments of your lifetime.

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, a retail garden center that is celebrating its 60^th anniversary in 2008.