Rhonda Nowak is a teacher, writer and gardener who lives and works in the Rogue Valley. She has taught literature and language arts for 25 years, the last six at Rogue Community College. In addition to her column for the Jacksonville Review, she writes a weekly column and blog called the Literary Gardener for the Mail Tribune. She also writes articles for Southern Oregon Wine Scene magazine and is writer and editor of Ashland Living magazine. Email Rhonda at Rnowak39@gmail.com.
Read more on her blog at http://blogs.esouthernoregon.com/theliterarygardener. 
With our warm, dry summers and mild winters, lavender (Lavandula) grows well in gardens in Southern Oregon; indeed, some local farmers have made lavender their principle crop. So it is that during the months of June and July, residents and visitors experience the aromatic and visual delights to be found along the Southern Oregon Lavender […]
“On a day – alack the day! –
Love, whose month is ever May,
Spied a blossom passing fair
Playing in the wanton air.”
William Shakespeare, “Love’s Labor’s Lost,” Act IV, Scene 3
This scene in Shakespeare’s comedy involves King Ferdinand and his three attending lords reading aloud poems they have written to their love […]
“It standeth north-north-east
and by east from the west corner of thy curious- knotted garden:
there did I see that low-spirited
swain, that base minnow of thy mirth…”
~William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost, Act I, Scene 1
In this scene, the fantastical Spaniard, Don Adriano de Armado, inserts himself into the Bard’s romantic comedy before […]
“Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.” ~African proverb
Gardening has provided me with lots of seasonal traditions, and one habit that I look forward to every fall is participating in the Winter Dreams/Summer Gardens educational symposium.
Hosted by the Jackson County Master Gardener Association, […]
“Fresh tears stood on her cheeks as does the honeydew upon a gathered Lily almost withered.” ~William Shakespeare, “Titus Andronicus,” Act III, scene 1 (1594)
This passage makes it clear that Shakespeare had closely observed and appreciated the beauty of morning dew on the petals of a lily, and he also […]
“Be you in the park about midnight at Herne’s Oak, and you shall see wonders.”
– In William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” 1597
I’ve mentioned before that every year Jerry and I enjoy watching a performance at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, and this month I’m looking forward to […]
“The first week of August hangs at the very top of the summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.” ~Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting, 1975
I love this image of August, the month when summer’s heat […]
And those whose blossoms curl obliquely back,
Ribbed on the sides with a bright scarlet streak,
Shalt of daylily the fair name receive,
If one whose summer’s day the beauties live…
-Rene Rapin (1621-1687)
It’s true that the beautiful daylily (Hemerocallis) lasts but one summer’s day, prompting Bishop Joseph Hall to once criticize the flower […]
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine.
~ 19th century English ballad
Simon and Garfunkel did not write “Scarborough Fair,” although the folksy musical duo’s 1966 version of the song is most well known today. […]
My heart is smit
With love so strong
I must declare,
But have no tongue.
Come to my aid, Thou Tulip Red,
Go and declare
My love instead.
~ Mandy Kirby, A Victorian Flower Dictionary, 2011
Before beginning to write about tulips, I checked my own plants to find small, green fingertips—fledgling flowers—still nestled cozily within the protective […]
“Everything in the forest has its season. Where one thing falls, another grows.
Maybe not what was there before, but something new and wonderful all the same.”
~Felix Salten, Bambi, A Life in the Woods, 1923
Twenty years before Walt Disney produced what has become a classic animated film, […]
I eat a lot of salad, so I derive particular pleasure from growing some of the lettuces I consume. There are so many varieties to choose from: crispheads, butterheads, looseleafs and Romaines, not to mention fancy designer greens such as endive and arugula.
In fact, all of our modern lettuces (Lactuca […]
“At Christmas, I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s newfangled mirth; But like each thing that in season grows.”
– William Shakespeare, “Love’s Labor Lost,” 1598
Oh, Willy, lighten up! Growing flowering plants in winter keeps gardeners gardening and brightens up our […]
“Using the proper layering techniques is essential for providing necessary warmth and comfort during the chilly days of fall and winter.” ~ Miss Rich, fashionista and blogger, January 2013
When I moved to Southern Oregon from Hawaii six years ago, I didn’t own a pair of closed-toed shoes, let alone a […]
“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in fall is missing the best part of the whole year, for gardening begins in January with the dream.” ~ Josephine Nuese, “The Country Garden,” 1970
For some gardeners, wintertime means growing cold weather crops or enriching garden soil with cover […]
“Water is the vehicle of Nature.” ~Leonardo da Vinci, “Codex Atlanticus” c.a. 1600
The great “Renaissance Man,” Leonardo da Vinci, was obsessed with water. Over and over again he drew water—flowing, falling, whirling, raging, destroying. Da Vinci’s series of black and white sketches, called “The Deluge,” depicts a torrential apocalypse, perhaps […]
Here’s flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers
Of middle summer, and I think they are given
To men of middle age.
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, 1609
Every summer, my husband, Jerry, and I attend a […]
“Heat, ma’am! It was so dreadful here that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones.”
~ Wit and Wisdom of the Rev. Sydney Smith, 1856
Reverend Sydney Smith (1771-1845) was an English humorist and writer who became a clergyman because […]
“Gardening in a small space shouldn’t restrict your ideas…Accept the challenge and discover new possibilities!”
~Philippa Pearson, Small Space Garden Ideas, 2014
When I was a little girl, I created a sitting area inside my closet and filled it with pillows, a lamp, books and toys. I called it my “roo”—not quite […]
“If you really want to draw close to your garden, you must remember that you are dealing with a being that lives and dies, like the human body with its poor flesh, its illnesses at times repugnant. One must not always see it dressed up for a ball, manicured and […]
Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling, dying
flake of […]
For each petal on the shamrock this brings a wish your way. Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day. ~Irish blessing
According to my family tree, I’m one-sixteenth Irish. One day, I’d like to visit the “land of my people;” however, until then, I’ll wear green and […]
“Plants and flowers aren’t simply pretty things to look at. They also have the ability to arouse our senses. They can be incredibly exciting – and erotic.” ~Sonia Day, The Untamed Garden, 2011
February we celebrate Valentine’s Day, le jour de l’amour, so perhaps there’s no better time for gardeners to […]
“From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens – the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind’s eye.” ~ Katherine S. White, Onward and Upward in the Garden, 1979
I found this quote in the Garden […]
In the the winter of 1849, Amelia Bloomer published her first edition of The Lily, a newspaper devoted to women’s issues in which she advocated for less-restrictive female garments. More than three decades later, members of the Rational Dress Society daringly suggested that no woman should have to wear more […]
“Half the interest of the garden is the constant exercise of the imagination.” –Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1898
During summertime, when I’m working hard in the garden to get ahead of the insects and weeds, I don’t often feel particularly imaginative. It’s mostly during the relatively “off […]
Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.
~William Wordsworth
September, 1819
If your enthusiasm and energy for gardening has waned from this summer’s triple-digit temperatures and smoky haze, then September may be just […]
Here are other Jackson County Master Gardener services offered in August 2015. All are at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, 569 Hanley Road, Central Point.
Why Is My Tree Dying?–Tuesday, August 4, from 7:00-9:00pm: Max Bennett, OSU Extension Service Forester, will offer information about tree care, causes of tree health problems, and how to […]
“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”–Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, 1911
Speaking of secret gardens, did you know there are 20 demonstration gardens just five minutes from downtown Jacksonville? It’s true! […]
The Jackson County Master Gardener Association will host “The Lazy Gardener” from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, 569 Hanley Road, Central Point. If you think gardening is too much work, Master Gardener Bob Reynolds will surprise you with tricks he’s learned from more than a half […]
“I judge that the flowers of Lavender quilted in a cap and worn are good for all diseases of the head…and that they comfort the brain very well.” ~ William Turner, New Herball, 1551
Many of the students I teach at Rogue Community College tell me they hope to use their […]
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~ May Sarton, Plant Dreaming Deep, 1968
I agree that patience is becoming a lost art in our hectic, fast-food, fast-everything lives where […]
“If the English language made any sense, ‘lackadaisical’ would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.” ~Doug Larson, columnist
My English Composition students are often overwhelmed by the word choices they face when they write an essay. It’s the same with me, as a gardener. When I pour over […]
“And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”
~Percy Shelley (1792-1822)
For thousands of local gardeners, spring does not merely arise but leaps forth the minute they step into the Spring […]
Contemporary autumn gardens are greatly brightened by the sundry colors of cultivated chrysanthemums (C. X morifolium); however, their name comes from the Greek words ‘chrysos’ (gold) and ‘anthos’ (flower) because native species in China were just yellow. For a time, only the nobility in Old China were allowed to grow the sacred chrysanthemum, and the […]