Man, it took its time. I was about to write a nasty letter.

An unusually prolonged Winter meant cold and dreary weeks at a time, finally relenting in a 75 degree flurry of gorgeousness. I mean you had to blink to realize Spring had actually arrived. Suddenly strange mixes of plants bloomed together……..redbuds and Yellow Magnolias…..Star Magnolias, Chinese Plums and Dogwoods…..strange combinations, uniquely juxtapositioned. Grass greened up. The Dandelions made their own version of a triumphant return!

Our obligatory trip to Bernheim Forest was a wonderful experience of cultivated and raw forest Spring, combined.

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The “Canopy Walk”, 75 feet in the air out over the burgeoning lime green of newly sprouting leaves on the amazing variety of species in a typical Kentucky Forest, took one’s breath away in its freshness.

As the distance proved equally breath-taking………..

Bernheim has its own laws and scenes. Unique in my experience, casual as can be with fabulous trails amid the humid, lush forest environments at every turn, yet a virtual Botanical Garden in essence and reality as one drives through the ancient forest. It offers a stillness and natural native aspect which silences and opens wonder for some time spent together.

I always gravitate towards a personally very special section which is their Magnolia Grove – a selection of “cultivars” of the original Soulangiana species, but offering some unique and rare bloom colors.

From the deepest, darkest Purples  to this incredibly Yellow bloomer of substantial size, below, this garden is a favorite and early Spring :must-see” spot for my Mother and I.

Yew Dell Botanical Garden

So we moved shamelessly along to our next Early Spring destination – the Yew Dell Botanical Garden – that eccentric and altogether satisfying spot just past Pee Wee Valley (I just enjoy typing that!) which was the creation of Master Botanist and Hobbyist Theodore Klein with the able assistance of his wife, Martha Lee. Now fully ensconced in the Garden Conservancy network, Yew Dell is one of only 9 gardens in the entire United States which have the “Preservation Project” designation. It is, in short, a treasure.

This unique Redbud – I believe it is a “Pauline Lilly” – was among other sub-species/cultivars featured in the Louisville newspaper, The Louisville Courier Journal.

Needless to say, Yew Dell is also rife with gorgeous Dogwoods, many of which are equally unique by species, yet wild with color.

Oddities, sculptures such as this one abound in an amazing placement system which manages to catch the eye at surprising removes.

I have featured this cute little structure below before, but it is so wholly representative of Klein’s sense of play and work……..he became an apprentice stone mason out of sheer curiosity – a calling I can frankly very much identify with – that he built this “second house” to host guests inside. The front yard, shown in the picture below this, is of an expansive view from this virtual ridge top and is a place for guests to venture outside at their leisure..

The Main House is no slouch. Here we see the rear courtyard with its own gorgeous array of plantings and water feature. Once again, a detailed peek at the tone work shows a mind at play in the simple best of ways.

Coming back home, we wend our way through yet another example of the profusion of Louisville neighborhoods anyone who love to live in. This one is our ‘hood…….but it is replicable almost anywhere. The city is alive with beauty, especially at this time of year.

I’ve written once before in this blog about a literally transforming event in my life. I can’t even recall exactly where it is located in this now-multiplied posting binge of mine, but I love telling the story, so bear with me as I talk about an inner relationship I have with the coolest animals on Earth – other humans.

I ran an extremely busy business in Vancouver, British Columbia in the early 80′s. Fresh at my first-ever business launch, the previous couple of years had presented me with a burgeoning business with many clients and prospective clients in a hugely rich climate of new construction and forming wealth all around us. Relationships were forming daily and I was being appealed with and sometimes nearly blackmailed to not only take on major landscaping projects of large apartment buildings and commercial properties, but also to design and install landscapes for the homes of the bosses of these developments. It meant a real crush for time and exposure as well as the demands pummeling my sensibilities to achieve the level of professionalism of the installations I had signed up for. I began feeling stress.

I could be found racing across that large city in my late model 1-Ton flatbed truck or in my car at all times during the day, racing the clock to appointments which seemed so incredibly vital to my existence that my entire focus was set specifically on the competitive traffic impeding me on my appointed tasks. I recall feeling betrayed by traffic lights and honking rudely at scofflaws impeding my progress in my urge to stay tuned to the tremors of opportunity and wicked ambition.

Then one day, it all changed.

Racing down Marine Drive in the southeast end of Vancouver, hard by the Fraser River, I was en route to a pre-construction meeting of unquestioned importance, involving the entirety of the principals involved, including the construction Project Manager as well as the owners and architects. Typically, I was slightly late and, equally typically, I was hell-bent on speed to make up the difference. Ahead, I saw this light which I just knew was beginning to change to yellow and I raced towards it thinking I might “make it”. Alas, dam the luck, it was not to be. Smacking the steering wheel with my hand like a mad shark and emitting a small scream of frustration, I slowed and stopped, feeling the rage waves roiling.

Sitting there, I watched a fairly large group of people crossing the crosswalk at a pace I knew would not help. At least 30 people were approaching via the painted crosswalk, intending to walk across the 5 lanes of traffic at their own pace. Work had obviously shut down for the day and they were en route home.

As I looked closer, I realized I was watching a group of developmentally disabled adults, leaving their place of “work” and on their ways to buses and their homes. The Down’s Syndrome was, as always, patently obvious, as well as the jerky, challenged demeanor of other more seriously physically disabled, some in wheelchairs. All were carrying lunch pails and all were doing one other thing which I will never – ever – forget.

They were smiling. Every single one of them.

Watching these folks cutting up with each other, high-fiving, laughing and responding so actively and so engaged, I was hit by an epiphany that nearly lifted the top of my noggin. It was beautiful! It was just plain gorgeous. Their enthusiasm at living their lives was palpably obvious. It was so uplifting to think these comparatively “unfortunate” beings were maximizing their talents and their abilities by crossing the street in front of my very vehicle. It was so uplifting seeing the joy with which they approached this simplest of human actions. I recall the sensations approaching in the rush which they descended with. It seemed that Time itself had momentarily stopped and it allowed me to peer into a literal crack in the firmament of Life Itself. I was attacked with goose bumps and my hair felt different – nearly electric. I was experiencing what ancient shaman felt as their gods revealed themselves. I was simply charmed beyond belief.

They were a living lesson in life and one which I will never forget nor underestimate.

After they crossed – two light durations worth, lol – tears were streaming down my face. I was still digesting what I had experienced. I am still digesting it now, 30 years later. This was the Ultimate in Soul Food. My epiphany was a religious conversion-type experience. I had looked on the face of God and He was more merciful and more humorous than I had ever even conceived. It honestly really did change my life – that stupid, simple moment in city traffic. I drove away feeling renewed, somehow. I arrived at the meeting eyes dried, barely late but with an aura, I just know it. People smiled at me and my own persona had to be alive with joy. It was a splendid collective smile among people used to competing and ended up being fun and warm, maybe made more so by myself and what I carried.

We need to acknowledge our gifts at times. I firmly believe one of the greatest gifts we receive are in the persons of those whose simple humanity and joy is a product of our own compassion and involvement and our investments in our community at it’s extremes.

One of my best friends in life is Dave Shulhafer. He began a highly successful media company named Videobred in Louisville back near the time of this event, actually. Since then, he sold the business but he stays involved in media, consulting and taking on small projects which he deems suitable and appropriate. This is a video he produced and this is him at the onset and closing of it, talking about his own relationship with persons who resemble in every way those wonderful folks who made me “Believe” as well.

And here is a beautiful bonus video, thanking you for reading this far. This one you owe yourself because you, too, are beautiful.

I got this mail from Tim Simon Hall of Australia: Hi, Steve, I’m from Sydney, Aus. I have mates in landscaping and other trades but the landscapers say it is the hardest job going and they often get life long injuries early. Is this the case and how do they prevent this? I’m a police officer and my boy is almost old enough to start thinking about the future. I want him to do a trade and I can sure see the art in landscaping. what can you tell us? Thanks!

First of all, thanks, Tim, for noticing this little corner of the working world. I will be delighted to answer your questions. I have dealt with some aspects of safety in other posts in here, but I understand how dense the blog has become, so it’s not necessarily easy referencing them in here. Dealing with your question also gives me an opportunity to deal more specifically with job site safety.

Job Site Safety – Machinery

The first element of safety concerns involve respect for items bigger than us. No matter the brilliant injury-free track record of a machine operator, any time a large machine enters our projects, one needs to understand the reach and predicted patterns of its travel and work. Even the afore-mentioned operator cannot see behind him. Indeed, the blind spots in a large machine grow proportionately to the machine size. Bottom line? Workers and helpers not intimately involved with the chores of the machine always need to maintain a wide berth. These excavators, back hoes, bulldozers and Bobcats are solid steel, heavy as they can be and utterly lethal in the potential impact with the human frame. In fact, an operator may not realize there even was an impact if such were to occur.

My instructions to new people are to give a completely wide berth to these labor-saving devices. Understanding the reach and potential injury radius of any machine under power on a job site is absolutely vital, not only to prevent injuries, but to literally survive impact with these behemoths.

Below is a look at just 2 of the machines which have become the landscaper’s very best friend. Unseen is a Bobcat/Skid steer machine which was used concurrently. Not only is this a lot of noise on a project, but it is also one cluster of danger for the unwary.

Have I had incidents where I struck workers while operating? Yes, I have. I once had a new guy stroll to where I was excavating for a pond and come within the radius of where I was excavating, then circling 180 degrees to put the overburden into a truck. As I took my loaded bucket in its circle, whipping it with some speed, my worker walked exactly into the arc and he got nailed. I had slowed it down as I noticed him, but the momentum struck him and knocked him about 10 feet in the air onto the ground. I shut the machine down in a cold sweat and rushed over to him, where there were the other guys. Imagine my relief when he batted his eyes, focusing, and smiled and mentioned he was sorry he got in the way. My relief was palpable, needless to say. I gave him the day off with pay, partly because seeing him reminded me of how close that call was and partly because he was an excellent working guy who had got confused about where he was. It was the closest to a job site fatality that I ever experienced. I sweat when I even relate this story.

Parts Of The Body By Injury

Next, there are indeed secrets to staying healthy, some of which are common sense and some of which may not be. Typical injuries in landscaping involve just a few very predictable areas of the body, foremost among which is the back.

The back is this fulcrum around which the entirety of lifting revolves. The physics of lifting require hands strong enough to hold onto an object. It requires also the legs and a pair of knees which can bend and support the weight of the object being lifted. Finally, the back supplies the resistance to nearly the entire weight being addressed, acting as a fulcrum. It is a complete truism in landscaping – and one of the very first lessons a safety coordinator gives out to a new guy – that, in lifting, one uses the power of legs to rise and not by bending the back. Relying on the back for lifting, as opposed to securing a good grip, keeping a completely straight back and using the legs and knees to rise, is a dangerous mistake. The length of the muscles of the back insure problems that denser muscle groups such as those on the arms and legs offer will happen if misused.

The back must always stay straight. There is no other advice which could be more straightforward or relevant. If you watch an Olympic Weightlifting Event, keep your eye on the back of no matter who is competing. At every stage, it straightens more as the weight shifts its height. The “action” is not in the back. The “action” of lifting is in other muscle groups, more importantly the legs.

The Legs

Which brings us to the legs and feet. The science of lifting, as well as the science of repetitive movement such as shoveling or running wheelbarrows – chores which can last an entire 8 hour work day – is not just the science of depressing work.

It is what the landscaping trade so often consists of. No matter how many labor-saving machines we may have on a project, we will always find corners and hard-to-get-to areas which require individual effort to address. Bear in mind as well the sad existence of Murphy’s Law -”If something can go wrong, it probably will.”

Machines break down, almost always at the worst possible times. On a project requiring a time limit for finishing, this can and sometimes does imply a different form of labor in the guise of incredibly demanding and hard work. So we find ourselves faced with abundant material needing placement on a project with nothing other than our smiling faces, some wheelbarrows and shovels to make it happen. In case one wonders, this means using a shovel or tool to load the wheelbarrows, loading them, then taking the wheelbarrow on whatever wild ride is required to place the material where it goes.

The Shovel

The single most ubiquitous item in the tool arsenal of landscaping is the good old shovel. We do everything with it – excavate, fill, smooth out, chip away and we load our wheelbarrows with them. They also come in a variety of shapes, designed for all these different uses.

Describing the uses of all the various shapes of shovels is delightful but less than useful here. The single most important aspect of the active verb: “shoveling” involves safety because “shoveling” carries some dangers. Especially considering the repetition involved in almost any incremental shoveling project, we reach the logic that only proper usage will take one through a full day without suffering injury.

Once again, the single most important safety factor of any shoveling exercise involves keeping the back straight. Of all injuries in landscaping, this is by far the most common. Correct technique of shoveling means bending the knees and using them for reach and loading purposes. The repetitive nature of using shovels will inevitably locate the weakest point and cause pain at that spot when it becomes somewhat dangerous. If one’s back gets this message, it may be time to re-learn the approach and adapt to a better structural approach. At no time is it cool at all to bend the back in order to lift or load. Once this sinks in and a process is discovered allowing the back to do its work appropriately  a major lesson in primary landscaping is understood.

The Benefits Of Safety And The Work itself

In logging, there is a saying among fallers of those gigantic trees out West: “There are only old loggers and young loggers.” What this implies is the career-ending nature of the injuries available to such a high risk trade. I mean, you have “widow-makers” – those snags or dead branches which a shaking tree breaks loose, cascading 400 pounds of branch downwards at a frightening and sometimes silent trip onto our erstwhile faller. You also have misbehaving chain saws which can call for carrying our friend out of a forest in time to apply the 200 plus stitches it takes to repair a leg or stomach which encountered a recently sharpened flying chain at 150 MPH. Not pretty.

Well, the good news is that landscaping is not that scary. Yes, the worker’s compensation rates tend to be a bit higher than that of an office worker, based on real history. But there are young, middle and old landscapers.

The virtues of hard work are always obvious. I suspect we humans get our justifications of so many verities from sheer hard work. We are proud not only of what we make, in landscaping, but we are also proud of our teams who accomplish the feats of construction. We are also strong as hell.

The health benefits of the trade are, frankly, many-fold. But, hey, it’s not for everyone. There is much drudgery and repetitive work in this trade. We can very much hate the day on the job. Looking at a pile the size of Texas and knowing today we will move that, 1/7th of a yard at a time is some depressing futurism. And yet, as I have mentioned many times, going home after a day of accomplishing just that has hidden rewards which others can only guess at. The endorphin level is out the roof. You get high, working like this. Plus, it’s all natural! No one is arresting a happy landscaper. The great solid and good feeling of leaving a day’s work back on the job is literally biochemical and naturally so. Consistent hard work brings a region and width of literal felt pleasure many people will never understand.

Thus, not only do we get the manifold pleasure of experiencing in depth rewards, biochemically on a felt level, we also develop the rewards of seeing a physical project take shape and then, wonderfully, complete itself through our efforts. We arrive at a lasting monument of physical accomplishment which has its own reward – nor is it small.

In a somewhat pathetic excuse to display yet more pictures, all or most as-yet unseen by human eyes and ears over the months, I have decided to recycle the Seasons just a little bit. In fact, I have gone Full Monty in baring pictures which have only a few coherent themes.

It’s my blog – not yours.

The Sun came out this Spring Day in Portland, just last year. Bar none, every man and woman Jack and Jill made their ways outside just to feel the strangeness. I took my standard half day trip to the Pearl District and the Portland Chinese Garden where I once helped so laboriously to construct. Remarkable stuff happened there on this visit.

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For examples, ducks were born overnight or during the morning…….. Check the little pile of family under the yellow Kerria. Enlarged is best. We got a splendidly elegant visit from a big Blue Heron……who swooped in magnificently as we watched. The Weeping tree displays this rock in a pairing which seems destined…….one of the ironies and successes of the Feng Shui approach the Chinese apply to combinations and more complex groupings of plantings, surfaces, buildings, sky and just everything else.  This barely budding Wysteria has a shapely beauty of its own. The bursting young blooms will soon display massive flowers, literally hiding the plant itself in a purple frenzy of pungeant smells and uncommon delicate beauty. As always in this garden, one can include absolutely any other feature of the site – in this case the woodwork on the adjacent building – in order to provide breath-taking Eye Candy.This is what I often refer to as one Healthy Crabapple Tree. Don’t ask me why – it’s crazy but that’s just the way I am.

At the Huntington Garden, meanwhile, another form of Spring had sprung…at their equally-interesting Chinese Garden, 1,000 miles to the South.

As Chinese Gardens go, this one was pretty darn OK………..

Of course, I am luckier than most. I attract gorgeous women. Look at this one trying to get my attention, for proof.

Meanwhile, back in Kentucky, the Dogwoods were also busting out like crazy. Being “Bi-Coastal” sometimes has monster advantages.

Bob Hill’s Hidden Hill Nursery can be shocking at times……

And, yes, that’s why we go there.

Speaking of Gods and Goddesses – normal conversation where I live – this review of some at the Huntington Garden can serve to remind us of how small we all are – unless of course we refer to them as tributes to ourselves. That takes some serious gas.

Experiencing the work of Michael Eckerman can be a surprise. This Santa Cruz stone mason and artist supplies arresting work on a very regular basis.

I also happen to believe that my Helen Nock does the same, just on another continent.

Someone call Burning Man!! This is a car phone emergency!!

What would Noguchi say?