Goethe and Gardens
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- biogardener
- Kirk_Johnson
- biogardener
- Kirk_Johnson
- biogardener
- biogardener
- Kirk_Johnson
- Kirk_Johnson
- biogardener
- biogardener
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» biogardener - My inspiration about Goethe and Gardens
Last Sunday, I purposely stopped at a hydro line right of way to dig up some self-seeded trees which Manitoba Hydro would kill anyway so that they do not obstuct the lines. The soil is sandy and digging really easy, so I managed to dig up seven trees. I made sure that I got the wild flowers growing around them as well. The next day, I planted four of them and potted the other three. All this time, I am still singing popular Goethe poems. My favorite is "Gefunden."The poem tells about the author walking alone in the forest without looking for anything in particular when he chanced upon a pretty little flower. When he tried to pick the flower, it told him that it would be a shame to get picked just to wilt. So he dug it up with the roots, took it home and planted it in his garden where it continues to flourish.
In school I was taught to interpret this poem as the author's advice on how to treat a woman. Well, I never thought about it before, but that is surely ridiculous. That is not the way Goethe treated women. He was, in fact, quite selfish in his romantic liaisons. His one marriage was one of honor to give his son a name, as German's would say.
Unlike his other poems in which he speaks of romantic emcounters, this one is written in the first person, and I now believe that he is describing an actual event. And who knows, maybe he brought plants home from his walks frequently.
I guess I have something else in common with Goethe. I never go anywhere without a shovel and pails, pots, and garbage bags in the truck. Oh yes, I also have snippers with me to cut the roots if necessary.
Here is an English translation of the poem. Sorry, it is bad, but you get an idea of the content:
- Found
Once in a forest
I strolled content,
looking for nothing,
my sole intent.
I saw a flower,
shaded and shy,
shining like starlight,
brigth as an eye.
I went to pluck it,
gently it said,
"Must I be broken,
wilt and be dead?"
Then whole I dug it,
out of the loam
and to my garden
carried it home.
There to replant it,
where no wind blows,
more bright than ever
it blooms and glows.
-- posted by biogardener
» Kirk_Johnson - Goethe's Poem
To a gardener, the message of that poem seems so obvious, it seems silly to read some hidden message into it.Envionmentalists might not like the message in this poem, but it was written while there were still lots of wildflowers in Europe.
I am always surprised that women like to be given cut flowers. I would want to be given a living plant that I could grow in my garden. I rarely cut flowers for the house, I prefer to enjoy them in my garden.
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» biogardener - heavenly experience
A few days ago, while driving back from the country, I listened to a lieder concert from the Glen Gould studio in Toronto. I was in heaven and sang along with many of the lieder. One of them was a Goethe poem mentioning a rose, and I am sure that it was a wild one. I thought of your article and of your signature pic of a wild rose. All roses in my garden and also in the country are wild ones. I dug the first ones up along the railroad tracks almost 20 years ago, and it is a good thing that I did it then. I came by some railroad tracks yesterday and noticed that they are all totally free of vegetation. I could not even find any wormwood growing on them, but a few plants were hidden in the adjacent countryside. Those tracks have surely been sprayed by herbicide. Goethe would not have liked that, and neither do I. What is wrong with pulling up unwanted plants by hand. Along railroad tracks, that is so easy, because all the roots are shallow in the gravel.BTW, this article is now republished on my Environmental Gardening site at GeoCities under the title:
-- posted by biogardener
» Kirk_Johnson - Re: heavenly experience
In response to message posted by biogardener:Actually, that photo is of a Camellia sasanqua, I had never looked at it as a rose, but it does look like one.
My favorite rose is Rosa alba 'Semi-plena. It is a very old hybid from the middle ages if not ancient Rome, so it still has the charm of a wild rose.
I just sprayed my gravel paths with Roundup rather than weed them like a flowerbed, so I can't be too critical of what was done to the railroad tracks ;-)
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» biogardener - Camelia
I had another look at your topic signature pic and noticed the shiny leaves which certainly do not resemble rose leaves.Talking about herbicide, there is a power line running past the nursery of one of my friends. When the Manitoba Hydro crew do their annual herbicide spraying under the powerline, my friends lose a lot of their stock. One year, they lost all their apricot trees. Complaints have done no good, and a lawsuit would cost a lot more than the loss, so the unrestricted spraying continues year after year. Likewise, the leaves of some of my trees curl up each year when the neighbor sprays her lawn. One year, the leaves of one of my plum trees turned pitch black and the tree died. The city of Winnipeg is considering passing a by-law which prohibits the use of poisonous herbicides. We now have lawn care companies which use organic compounds, and their service does not cost much more.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - Re: Goethe and Plants
Inspired by this article of yours, Kirk, I actually wrote an article on how Goethe felt about transplanting from the wild into a garden. I was going to publish it in the Organic Gardening topic, which I have now given up. I have therefore parked it on one of my GeoCities sites. I haven't published it there yet, though, and may well publish it at Suite101 first.Here is the article:
-- posted by biogardener
» Kirk_Johnson - Re: Re: Goethe and Plants
In response to message posted by biogardener:I wish that I had read that poem before I wrote my article. I had agreed to write an article about Goethe and then realized that I didn't know anything about him. I had confused him with someone else 
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» Kirk_Johnson - Re: Re: Goethe and Plants
In response to message posted by biogardener:I wish that I had read that poem before I wrote my article. I had agreed to write an article about Goethe and then realized that I didn't know anything about him. I had confused him with someone else.
Researching that article was quite an education
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» biogardener - Disadvantage
You were definitely at a disadvantage there, Kirk, not knowing Goethe as Germans know him. To us, he is the best-known author, better known than Shakespeare is in the English-speaking world and much easier to understand because, his language is young enough to sound like today's German.You did a great job with that research, though. I remember the event which you hosted at the time. For me, it was one of the highlights of Suite101. I still occasionally get feedback from Goethe scholars at German universities about the article which I wrote on the language of Goethe.
I also made one amateur translator of Goethe poetry angry. She asked me to evaluate her translation of some of his poems. What she really wanted was a pat on the back which I was unable to give her. Even though her mother tongue is German, she missed most of Goethe's main points. Her English isn't good enough to try to write poetry anyway.
I had warned her ahead of time, asking her if she really was ready to hear my opinion, and she said she was. Well, I will never fall for that line again.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - Global Village Event
Kirk, could you submit this article to the Global Village event? You have some others as well which focus on the cultures of other nations. Those would also be welcome.-- posted by biogardener
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