Seeing, reading, seeding, with Sharon Lovejoy

1/27.2023 by JG Annino. As a winter host with #PoetryFriday, I share affection for seed packet ideas, the uncollected Nature poems & a cornucopia of illustrations, poetic essays, storytelling & garden guiding from prolific author, artist, garden designer, mood-enhancer, Sharon Lovejoy.

[copyright SHARON LOVEJOY]

And close beside us

rustling leaves had conversations

with the breeze.

c. Sharon Lovejoy

A chance alert brought me to meet Sharon during her unannounced visit at Our Town’s fairytale live oak tree that guards an historic garden house, Lichgate. My yard putterings were never the same old same old, following a moment with Sharon. Only afterwards did I find her shelf of illustrated books, aflower with wisdom & poetic words, which emboldened me to try banana trees & carnivorous plants in this Florida freeze zone & to nurture dogwoods in what can also be a 100 F zizzle of a summer.

 I have parent gardeners to praise for some of my [barely] green thumb. And I’m always influenced by lessons I soak up at our region’s incomparable Birdsong window bird garden & acres, plus at Lichgate. But I applaud Sharon for putting into published words her poetic, mood-enhancing ideas & images. Thanks to her & my dear hubby’s digging skills, bright fat roselle buds & wispy cotton balls have sprung from our sloped yard. Thanks to Sharon, I plant dandelions.

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During the day the faeries

are curled up sleeping in the hearts

of the flowers. But at night, when the moon

and stars are shining brightly, they troop out onto

their green ballroom floor and dance and sing (with tiny

cricket voices) in celebration of the children who gave them shelter.

c. Sharon Lovejoy/SUNFLOWER HOUSES

My summer

home is the

fairest of all

With a morning

glory roof

and sunflower walls!

C. Sharon Lovejoy/ SUNFLOWER HOUSES

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If you have ever slipped inside the magic spell of a #sunflowerhouse at a nature center, it could be that the creators relied on Sharon’s guidance in blossoming their bright plant nook.

Within whimsical words & charming artwork gracing her 10 books, Sharon Lovejoy melds poetry lines, her trained garden wisdom also cultivated by two wonderful grandmothers & her trained artist’s eye that catches treasures from the personality of damselflies to rich dirt. When I visited the children’s section of the soothing #ClevelandBotanicalGardens in 2018 in healing from cancer surgery, I didn’t realize that my delight in the tallgrass hidey place, the sculpture-face silly planters of posies crafted from castoff kitchen appliances, & sprinkles of other remarkable touches, were part of her official work as that great garden’s designer. Nor did I know that as president, she guided the International Herb Association, or that she is at work on a book about an overlooked scientist who was consistently discounted due to being a woman, a sort of Beatrix Potter of her time. Sharon Lovejoy is remarkable. In her honor, select your seeds! To lift spirits in these troubled times & improve your garden success, you may want to look into her books.

#SharonLovejoy  on Instagram & at her website

#PoetryFriday Links

 At the shuttering of the first month of our new year 2023, to bring your good words to #PoetryFriday add blog links in comments below & know I’m grateful for all that you teach me in our creative community. Next month: February: 3 Laura at Laura’s Blog 10 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink 17 Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone 24 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

We have seen/read in  January 2023:
6 Catherine at Reading to the Core
13 Susan at Chicken Spaghetti
20 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins
27 Jan at Bookseed Studio

PoeTry friDay explainer from poet & educator #ReneeM.LaTulippe

[my parents gave me antiques that are treasures. My original-wheels, solid wood Aero Flyer cradles Sharon’s books as images also at instagram handle jganninoauthor.]