It snowed the day before I purchased my pansies at Andrew’s Greenhouse in Amherst. I was waiting for the weather to feel like proper pansy weather, but I had waited long enough. Fortunately, pansies are hardy souls and don’t mind a bit of winter weather. And that’s a good thing, because a couple of days after I set out my pansies in planters by the front door, winter returned in full force.
The British writer D.H. Lawrence named a book of his poems “Pansies.” Lawrence, whose steamy novels included “Women in Love” and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” ran afoul of England’s obscenity laws for his sexually provocative writing. He wrote “Pansies” in angry response to the stodgy social attitudes toward open discussion of sexuality and complex human emotions.
In his introductory materials to “Pansies,” he described the earthy fragrance of the flowers as coming from “the corruptive earth from which they spring.” He wrote: “The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure; and in the perfume there hovers still the faint strange scent of earth, the under-earth in all its heavy humidity and darkness. Certainly it is so in pansy-scent; mingled with the blue of the morning the black of the corrosive humus. Else the scent would be just sickly sweet.”
Someone recently told me she wasn’t aware that pansies had any scent. I didn’t want to say something rude, like, “Where have you been all your life?” But when I walked into the covered pansy pavilion at Andrew’s last week, the enchanting scent — floral, earthy, subtle — brought back a lifetime’s worth of pansy memories and it seemed sad to me that anyone had missed out on one of life’s simplest pleasures.
Like a lot of people, my first gardening experience was planting pansies with my mother. My favorites were the big blue ones, with nearly black edges. I remember the velvety feel of their petals and the feeling of pressing them gently into the soil. I liked how they seemed valiant and indestructible. They never wilted or got upset because they’d been pulled out of little plastic cups of potting soil and stuck into the cold red Virginia clay.
I still love to plant pansies. Later on in the season, gardening tasks become more mentally taxing. Like separating perennials, or weeding bits of lawn grass from clumps of day lilies. But planting pansies is pure fun and ease. And pansies like to be picked. They call for no artful arrangement or trimming. You can put them in anything that holds water. They go nicely in old, mismatched demitasse cups that don’t get much use otherwise, at least not in my house. They only last a few days, but their smiling, streaky faces bring the spring indoors, especially when it feels like winter outside.
Several readers have commented on my words of caution about working the spring soil too early and compacting it into a cement-like substance. As I read through Lawrence’s thoughts on pansies and sex, I came across a passage that called to mind that bit of gardening wisdom: “We all have our roots in earth. And it is our roots that now need a little attention, need the hard soil eased away from them, and softened so that a little fresh air can come to them, and they can breathe. For by pretending to have no roots, we have trodden the earth so hard over them that they are starving and stifling below the soil. We have roots, and our roots are in the sensual instinctive and intuitive body, and it is here that we need fresh air of open consciousness.”
I think D.H. Lawrence would have liked the idea of Earth Day. He grew up in a poor family in the rural East Midlands region of England, where he spent his days roaming what was left of the Sherwood Forest. He had a lifelong passion for the natural world.
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. An estimated 20 million people gathered at festivals across the country. I remember the event very clearly, but I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that the day was established by Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a Democrat and passionate environmentalist. He said, “We only have one earth, so we need to take care of her.”
It was a grassroots explosion, leading to the founding of the EPA on Dec. 2, 1970, as well as legislation such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Poor Gaylord Nelson would be spinning in his grave if he knew what the Trump administration was doing to “protect” the environment these days. It’s more important than ever to stand up for Mother Earth as we go about our own lives.
This year, Earth Day Network is focusing on the dangers of plastic pollution. From poisoning and injuring marine life to disrupting human hormones, from littering our beaches and landscapes to clogging our waste streams and landfills, the exponential growth of plastics is now threatening the survival of our planet.
In response, Earth Day 2018 is dedicated to providing the information and inspiration needed to fundamentally change human attitude and behavior about plastics. For more information, go to www.earthday.org
There are several local events celebrating the 48th Earth Day. The Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst has teamed up with 30 Boltwood at the Lord Jeffrey Inn to create a special series of Earth Day dinners Friday through Sunday from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Chef Kevin Doubleday and his team have put together a special menu featuring seasonal vegetarian and non-vegetarian selections from our local farms. A portion of the proceeds from this three-course $45 prix fixe menu will benefit the Hitchcock Center. Reservations recommended. 413-835-2011.
There are several local family-friendly events with an environmental focus to celebrate Earth Day. In West Springfield on Saturday there will be an Earth Day Festival on the Town Common from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Members of the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association will be on hand to answer questions and test soil samples.
On Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Springfield will celebrate Earth Day with an educational, family event with wide range of environmentally-friendly groups including the Western Massachusetts Western Gardener Association. The festival will take place at the Quadrangle at the Springfield Museum, 21 Edwards St.
Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston is celebrating Earth Day with garden tours, an upcycled milk jug workshop, a reading of The Lorax, woodland trails, and more! For more information, go to: tinyurl.com/thbgEarthDay2018.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at mickey.rathbun@gmail.com.