The Rural Voice, 2006-01, Page 36Gardening
Call it mountain ash no more
Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
It all started with a chance
discussion at a dinner party. We were
touching on the wealth of gardening
books on the market today and the
comment came up that gardeners are,
generally speaking, more savvy about
what peonies and iris are and how to
design for effect, be it soothing or for
visual comfort. Now they want to dig
deeper into the more spiritual side of
gardening. The next level for some
gardeners is to sit back and analyze
those magical feelings that come over
them while working or enjoying their
time with nature.
My first thought went to the
mountain ash that came up in the
terrace right opposite our back door.
The terrace was designed to reduce or
redirect the flow of melting snow and
severe rain away from naturally
travelling downhill into our porch.
A lot of the garden material was
planted but every once in while a
volunteer would show up and I would
be more than happy to see where this
would lead us. That is how the black
walnut appeared too. Unfortunately,
as the black walnut grew bigger and
stronger, the mountain ash weakened
and at one point snapped off near the
ground in a storm, though a side
shoot struggled along.
The whole terrace seemed to lag a
bit and I knew that despite my best
efforts with hostas and lilies, who
don't mind the juglins emitted by
walnuts, the garden seemed to be
listless.
Last year we pulled the black
walnut and I know this may sound
corny, but the garden underwent a
magical transformation. The hostas
which normally sent up one or two
spikes of flowers among the whole
lot appeared to have gone all frothy
32 THE RURAL VOICE
with a hedge of whitle fragrant
blooms throughout August and into
September. But the real story is the
mountain ash.
Years ago I had read somewhere
that the mountain ash, also known as
the rowan tree, was well respected in
magical, spiritual circles. Planting
one outside your door protected you
and your home from evil spirits. I
have a touch of the Irish in me and I
have often reflected that the struggle
of the rowan outside our door
indicated something was afoot.
Okay, the demise of the walnut
made a remarkable
change. The tree
shot up a foot and
this spring it had a
full show of white
frothy flowers
similar to the
elderberry. The
summer saw a
bumper crop of
berries swell and
redden and before
the robins went
south they cleaned
up all but a handful of berries.
The history of the rowan or Sorbus
species shows it has a practical side
too. The juice from the berries is used
as a laxative, a gargle for sore throats,
inflamed tonsils and as source of
vitamins A and C.
But it is the magical side that is
most intriguing. The Druids used it to
make the black dye for their
ceremonial robes. It was recorded as
being planted in great profusion
around the ancient stone circles like
Stonehenge.
Bewitched horses and animals
could be controlled with a rowan
whip, and fires of rowan wood were
lit before a battle to invoke the spirits
to take part in the fight and combat
evil. It was not unusual for houses to
have a 'protective house timber of
rowan inscribed with runes to protect
the home from lightning and
branches of rowan were carried on
vessels to avoid storms.
The wood of the rowan is said to
increase one's psychic powers.
Coupled with its very dense physical
qualities, it makes excellent divining
rods and is favoured among
.magicians for walking sticks.
If you are inspired to plant your
own protection against evil, look for
a native Sorbus americana or Sorbus
decora. I don't think I will ever call it
a mountain ash again as it doesn't
relate to the mountains and it is not of
the ash family. It is, in fact, closer to
the apple or rose family as the berries
are actually a pome fruit. To the
average gardener the trees are quite
similar. The S. decora blooms about
10 days later than the americana and
while both are native species,
the decora can be found as
far north as Labrador. The
leaves have what is coined
attitude. The leaves of the S.
americana tend to be on edge
and arching while S. decora
are more horizontal.
It is a small tree with
slender branches that form an
open, round -topped crown.
Because of its slender shape
it will bend to prevailing
winds. You often see them on
our roadsides leaning away from the
nd. While rowan trees or shrubs
like to grow along the borders of
swamps and at the bottom of
hillsides, they will survive quite
nicely, although smaller, in drier
conditions. Ours is a good 12 feet tall
and with a few more good growing
seasons will gain a few more feet but
I doubt it will hit its optimum of 30
feet. The bark is smooth greyish
green that becomes scaly with age —
great for .growing lichens on. The
tooth -edged leaves are long, slender
and grow opposite each other on a
leaf stalk. The big selling point of this
small tree is the beauty of the great
clusters of red berries in the fall and
the feast they offer robins and cedar
waxwings. It truly was a banquet this
fall with the birds flocking around the
tree top and leaving no berries on the
ground either.
So when admiring your garden
this summer consider the mystical
qualities.. There is more to life than
we know or understand. The rowan
tree fits nicely, into that niche.0