Pick of the Week: UGA Trial Gardens

Ta-da! A garden smushed between the Snelling Dining Hall, the Wilson Pharmacy building, and West Green Street on UGA campus. The garden was the creation of Allan Armitage, a world renowed herbaceous plant guru a professor of horticulture at the university. He took over what used to be an abandoned parking lot and created this on a whim and it has become one of the premier spots for seed companies the world over to be trialed. Everything grown in these gardens is grown for a purpose--to determine their suitability for the gardening public. All the plants are monitored every two weeks throughout the growing season (April/May to October-ish) and the "winners" eventually make it to retail nurseries to be planted in green thumb yards all over the country. Most of the plants are annuals, but tropicals and perennials are trialed as well.

I was able to meet Allan Armitage when I worked for Color-Burst, which was neat considering he something of a legend in horticulture. My old boss at Color-Burst was big on using some of the Athens Select cultivars that came directly from Mr. Armitage's progagation efforts--plants uniquely selected for their tolerance of the southeast's heat and humidity. One summer I was put in charge of the Color-Burst trial garden (our own small scale copy cat garden) and was asked to drive to a nursery in Watkinsville (little town outside Athens) to pick up six plants--yep I made an hour and a half drive for six plants. The plants were some of the cream of the crop selections from the trial garden and were only available on a small scale at local nurseries. That is a good definition of devotion--or crazy.

Today I am grateful for a bike ride at dusk to the State Botanical Garden as a break after seven hours in the studio! (Seven hours in the studio is ALSO a good definition of devotion--or crazy, take your pick.)

For Worthy Friends...

Do you remember in high school, especially during big events such as Homecoming, how the student body council would coordinate some big ra-ra spirit week filled with crazy things like tie-dye day, pajama day, toga day, school color day, etc. to get you all pumped for some exciting end of the week celebration? No, they do not have some kind of crazy grad student intiation requiring the wearing of togas across campus, but I have seen a fairly consistent theme running through this past week, significant enough to mention.
The theme revolves around friendship and gratitude and its message was repeated over and over again in my week. My friend Katie quoted (and in the process taught me) from Charles Dickens' book Little Dorrit. One of the chracters in the book has ceased complaining because when she complains she cannot feel gratitude. (That was a very rough translation, but you did inspire me to read the book Katie, I just haven't come to that part yet). Katie has taken up that model and despite some challenges, is choosing to be positive.
My friend Dallin asked me, "What do you have to look forward to in this week?" I appreciate the tone of his question and the paradigm shift it is from just "How is your week looking?" or "What is your plan for the week?" When he asked the question I had to sort of mentally pause and think, "What do I have to look forward to?"
The Relief Society lesson from the Joseph Smith manual was on friendship and the discussion focused on the ideal friend, which included among other things, someone who is encouraging and helps you to see the good in yourself and life in general.
Institute started this week and we are studying The Book of Mormon this semester. Almost immediately two themes emerged within the first two chapters of the book: the mercy of the Lord (and Nephi's gratitude for it) and the persistant temptation of Laman and Lemuel to murmur (and thus fail to see God's mercy and show gratitude).
Finally, another friend, Sara, finishes every blog post with some specific thing that she is grateful for that day. In tribute to her good habit and a summation of this week's theme: I am grateful "for worthy friends" who help life to be so enjoyable. More specifically, I am grateful for my newly found upstairs neighbor from India who I made friends with at the bus stop on Wednesday.

Big Little Brother

This post has been a long time in coming, since this summer in fact, and has been reinforced half a dozen times by little observations in various settings. I have been most impressed by my brother Jared and his wife, Sarah and feel that a little post about them is much overdue.
It is funny the way life turns out--never quite like you planned. I never expected that my younger brother, for example, would get married before I did. Not to say that there is anything wrong with that, it just wasn't in the plan. I count my blessings, though, that I am in the stage of life that I am in and rather free to come and go and visit with individual family members. One of the really sweet parts of spending time with the family is seeing the way that Jared and Sarah have developed in their marriage.
This summer I captured a picture of them together in the front of one of the rafts we took down the river and was impressed by the symbolic meaning of it. (Sorry, if this is too much, you can stop reading now). I see them anxiously pursuing a future that will include rough water, sharp turns, rocks, and unanticipated turbulence, but the fact that they are moving and doing and becoming together, come what may, is very encouraging to me. I also see them having some fabulous and uniquely personal experiences as a couple that will bless and shape their marriage in positive ways.
Jared and Sarah planted a garden this summer in their backyard and it has been (and continues to be) incredibly productive. They have tended it with diligent care and have yielded bushels of zucchini, peas, beans, cucumbers, radishes, and I am sure by now some peppers and tomatoes. As a sister and a horticulturist this is MOST exciting, but even more exciting is their desires toward good things that are done as a couple and of seeing the fruits of their labors by working together.
I am encouraged. I am proud. And I am taking note of the good example of my big little brother.

The Definition of Southern Hospitality

Imagine with me for a moment arriving in a new place, knowing almost no one, pulling into the driveway of a stranger and being greeted like an old friend. Imagine with me anxiety melting away and being replaced with an adorable little over-the-garage room with view, the offer of a car to use, and free reign of the pantry. Imagine sitting down with this stranger-friend and talking late into the night. I have a new definition of southern hospitality and she lives on Milledge Terrace.

Her name needs to be added to my good people book. Truly, I am so blessed.