Napa Master Gardener Column

Recently a fellow Master Gardener recommended I read Inherited Silence by Louise Dunlap. The book is described as an insightful look at the historical damages early colonizers of America caused and how their descendants may recognize and heal the harm done to the earth and the native peoples.

We all have family histories, the stories we learn as children that become part of who we are as adults. Usually, we gather these stories and history from people, books, or classes, but sometimes we find history in the garden. Growing up, I heard stories about plants in the garden.

It all started with an abandoned plant. Twelve years ago, as I was moving into my new home, I noticed a sad-looking plant in a plastic pot at the far end of the front yard. It had been out in full sun for, I guessed, quite a few days and was very dry.

In early 2008 I was watching the news on television. The economy had started its decline and the story concerned a woman in Pennsylvania who had been laid off from her job. She was filmed pushing a shopping cart out of a grocery store and was asked what she had purchased with her final paycheck.

Besides gardening, I love birds and have several birdhouses in my garden. A few years ago, in early spring, I found a couple of plants growing at the base of a birdhouse in the backyard. At first, I thought they were weeds.