It's about Time

Building a Blooming Garden Clock

The concept of time has insnared us all across the globe. We're enmeshed in all facets of time whether we consciously adhere to the scientific principle of a fourth dimension in space time or the banal realization that we have a ordinal daily behavior. As the digital age steadily composes new guidelines for how we conduct our lives so does the notion of time recompose itself. Conceptually time has simultaneously metamorphosed into an almost neurotic OCD laden encumbrance. It permeates our lives in slogans and jingles and mnemonic phrases like the ubiquity of commercial advertisements. These pervasive euphemisms are all to familiar: Time is of the essence; the time is now; no time like present; time to get up; time to leave; do we have enough time?; time to do whatever. Throughout anecdotal and recorded history and continuing up to present day, societies have fabricated codes and parameters for measuring time. These societies have bestowed this time keeping acumen on a fraternity of time lords. Historically these time lords were once exalted shaman or priests or soothsayers able to interpret the omens and miracles and predict occurrences, like the harvest moon, by telling time. Modern time lords are better known to the world as scientists and have been bequeathed the responsibility of recalibrating the global atomic clocks down to the nanosecond which behooves any traveler who expects GPS to function properly.

Clocks and timepieces have emerged as the de facto mechanism which facilitates a baseline for keeping time. This wasn't always the case. The first timepieces were based on the Sun, the Moon and the starry heavens. The phases of the moon were used to calculate large chunks of time but weren't especially useful for keeping time on a micro level. Consultations and planetary movement are magnificently pragmatic for charting relative time but don't work so well in the light of day. Enter the sundial into the fray of time keeping. Although the Sun's phases during the day can elucidate a general idea of fixed time (e.q. dawn, noon, dusk) it wasn't until the sundial that better incremented time could be kept. However glorious the invention of the sundial was it had its obvious limitations. Of course, there were other various ways of keeping time but they were highly subjective and situation specific like candles and hourglasses. With the invention of mechanized timepieces the baseline for keeping time seemed to have been canonized.

Although keeping time with clocks and timepieces was now regulated, allowing for better logistical control, the standardization of time remained elusive. The authority of the time lords had succumbed to hibernation after the proliferation of clocks and timepieces. For instance, if one had a clock in the home it could show a different time than the company clock at which one worked. Furthermore, all shops and businesses and governmental organizations kept their own specific time which meant that one was in a constant state of time warp. It wasn't until the heyday of the locomotive and train travel that standardized time keeping revolutionized our fixation on time. Railroad companies needed to coordinate arrival and departure times in order to essentially avoid collusions. Naturally, the marketing machine claimed that strict schedules and deadlines were paramount to affording better service; the underlying precept was to reduce crashes. This evolution of punctuality is the cornerstone of today's unwitting obsession with the minutiae of time and time keeping.

Interestingly, as orthodoxy rears its head in the behavioral conventions of a society too does opposition creep in as its concurrent anathema. There arise those who yearn for an innovative push back or an alternative to the protocol. Horologers artfully designed new and intricate clocks and timepieces to approximate time keeping to sate a growing obsession. There were clocks which chimed with varied aroma's or tastes which enabled the owner to reasonably assess the time primarily during the dark hours of night.

As the fledgling European saltwater expansion progressed during the 18^th century they encountered vastly different cultures. Each of these cultures superficially appeared to the European explorers as benighted and culturally backward in comparison to European culture. Yet these cultures had unique and reliable means of keeping time which were symbiotically in tune with their milieux. For instance, some rainforest peoples of New Guinea adapted their children's peer group play time to the calls of particular birds. A certain bird call in the early morning signified that the children were free to roam and play. Conversely, a different bird call ushered in the end of the playtime and meant the children needed to set their compass to home.

Some revolutionary European thinkers in this period admired the romantic ideal of the “noble savage” as espoused by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. They tinkered at ways to introduce aspects of it into the cultural lives of Europeans. One such thinker was the Swedish renaissance man Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus, a botanist, physician and zoologist, is perhaps best remembered for his taxonomy of the plant and animal kingdoms. At some point amidst the herculean task of classifying and cataloguing all the known plants and animals, Linnaeus took a break and pondered about time.

Having amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of plants as well as being an avid gardner it wasn't long before he melded the two endeavors and applied it to time keeping. Linnaeus devised a botanical scheme for keeping time based on the general daily blooming period of plants and flowers. For reasons unknown, Linnaeus never brought his “noble savage”/ “back to nature” blooming garden clock to fruition. The theoretical botanical clock remains just that; a hypothetical. Despite that fact, constructing such a garden clock can be as enjoyable and entertaining as it could be functional. Here is a partial and by no means exhaustive list of plants and flowers with their corresponding opening and closing times which can function as a blueprint for ones own blooming garden clock. Happy gardening; it's time to get busy.

Flowering Plant                                  Opening                          Closing

Goats-beard                                          3 am                                 11 am

Chicory                                                 4-5 am

Hawkweed                                           6 am                                 5pm

Garden Lettuce                                     7 am                                 10 am

Scarlet Pimpernel                                  8 am

Ice plant                                                9-10 am                            3-4 pm

Day Lilly                                                                                       7-8 pm

Blue Sow-thistle                                  7 am                                   noon

Marsh Sow-thistle                               7 am                                   2 pm

Meditating on Moss

When you conjure up images of European medieval woodland landscapes, as depicted in fairy tales and hero's adventures, the scenery is often an iconic archetype. The mosaic of images probably contains languidly moving brooks flanked by dense arboreal vistas and most certainly there is a vibrant lush green carpet stretching in all directions on the forest floor. This expansive and luxuriant green blanket is composed of an interwoven series of a singular and amazing plant; moss. Moss comes in a host of varieties including color, texture, geometry and so forth. The moss of fairy tale panoramas is more than likely the long-fibered sphagnum moss better known as peat moss. Peat moss is not restricted to Europe it also has its North American and Asian counterparts. Moss has a lively and lavish history in the social, medical, spiritual, horticultural and even economic realms of peoples lives all over the world.

Sphagnum mosses are the taxonomical name given to living peat mosses but the more vernacular term “peat moss” or “bog moss” is what they are generically called. Peat moss is found predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere in peat bogs, moist tundra and conifer forests. Peat moss adapts to its environs by manipulating its own habitat. It retains up to 20 times its weight in moisture which means that the water is not draining away, thus, creating a bog and a vast network of mosses.

Horticulturists, botanists, weekend gardeners, and florists have recognized the multitude of benefits and applications which moss provides. Along with its exemplary quality of water retention it is also known for its anti-bacterial attributes. More recently the moss Physcomitrella patens is at the forefront of research into the medicinal and healing properties of all mosses. In 2007 a consortium of scientists were able to map the entire genome of Physcomitrella patens which will certainly pave the was for more extensive studies into the remarkable benefits of moss. 

Nonetheless, the history of bog moss in Europe is as insightful and it is inspirational. For example, The Battle of Clontarf in 1014 which saw the King of Leinster trying to assert more muscle in Ireland by ordering his men, including Viking mercenaries, to launch assault on Dublin. Brian Boru was the reigning “High King” of most of Ireland at the time which was a loose conglomerate of independent kingdoms. The battle was won by Brian Boru as he and his men staved off the King of Leinster but at a heavy bloody cost to both sides. A chronicler of the event noted bog moss being used in battlefield triage care; “...(they) stuffed their wounds with moss.” Furthermore, it's generally accepted that during the middle ages certain peat mosses were used more frequently by surgeons on the battlefield than was previously thought. The term Blood Moss alludes to its sponge-like absorption as it was used by Hospitallers during the Crusades to soak up and halt the flow of blood. While the Europeans were cultivating and codifying their pharmacopeia of mosses the Asia was nurturing their spiritual constitutions with all things moss.

The Japanese are notorious for their spectacularly manicured gardens. Theses gardens have a subtle and sensory captivating ability to lull one into a meditative state. It follows that these meditation gardens were seen as a respite from a hectic urban and or suburban life. Although Shintoism is the overarching religion of Japan, there are still remnants of Zen Buddhism which can be seen manifested in the meditation gardens. Seated meditation is one of the disciplines essential to effective zen meditation. The idea behind seated meditation is to calm both body and mind while concentrating inwardly which will bring upon insights leading to enlightenment. Japanese spiritual culture is intertwined with the ubiquity of the elemental forces like water, fire, earth, wind and “heaven” which are all part and parcel to meditation gardens.

Cultivating these elements or immersing oneself into in a serene environment is at the core of Japanese seated meditation. Some of the oldest meditation gardens in Japan are designed to incorporate moss as reoccurring and thus, calming theme. The most famous of those gardens is Saihō-ji, the Moss Garden, in Kyoto. Saihō-ji dates from around 1339 and its establishment is attributed Muso Soseki who was court politician, writer and obvious savvy organizer. Today the Moss Garden is so popular that access is limited to 90 minutes per visit and only after a lengthy period waiting for your request to be processed. This is a discernible testament to the spiritual importance of moss in the daily lives of the Japanese. Although not quite on par with zen meditation the western world has embraced the esthetic and pragmatic elegance of moss. 

Moss has become an indispensable gardening tool which is characteristically used today as a decorative moisture sponge which is clumped at the base of potted orchids and succulents. Any garden shop worth is salt liberally utilizes moss in their finished products. Moss is loved by florists and gardeners working with succulents and orchids because moss so readily soaks up and holds the water like a mini reservoir. This allows the orchids and succulents to access the moisture when needed while avoiding rotting issues.

Here's a list of some of those uses for peat moss:

• Soilless Planting – Succulents can grow directly in moss.
• Making Forms – Like succulent wreaths and topiaries.
• Securing Plants – Stuffing and tucking the space around the succulent and orchid roots with moss to hold it in place.
• Soil Conditioning – Provides moisture retention, drainage, and nourishment.
• Container Accent – it just looks luxurious.
  
  

Admittedly, growing sphagnum moss in your Florida garden can seem like a daunting task. Florida, especially in the Summer, is not the boreal climate suited to wild moss forests. There are some ways by which you can enjoy many aspects of moss while not having to compromise on esthetics. Planting a terrarium using long stemmed moss, succulents and or orchids is one way to cultivate beauty and serenity. Visit your local garden shop for tips and tricks and many more ideas on how to enjoy the wondrous green plant Moss.