by Bob Oakes

My blogger friend Susan Harris asked me to write a piece on the role of music in my life. I knew Susan in the midst of my formative musical decade: 1963-1973. She and I attended college in Ohio and we backpacked around Europe in the summer of ’69.  We were on the other side of the Atlantic when Woodstock shook the American consciousness. I was running from the draft.

1972: Bob (back right) in a rock band in Connecticut with friend Richard Fichman (left). Good music, good times.

A baby boomer born in 1949, I was introduced to folk music via my siblings in the early sixties. My sister taught me some chords on ukulele so I could play “Tom Dooley” and “Scarlet Ribbons”. Soon I was playing guitar and strumming Peter, Paul & Mary tunes.  I even played “The Times They are a-Changin’” at a hootenanny. But it was the British invasion – The Beatles, The Stones, The Animals, The Kinks – that truly reached my teenage core. It took two Canadians – Joni Mitchell and Neil Young – to bring my attention back to music happening on this side of the pond– along with The Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash. I went back and caught up with Bob Dylan’s music after seeing his Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975 and being completely blown away. There was Dylan playing “It Ain’t Me Babe”, then he was singing duets with Joan Baez and hey, here was Roger McGuinn just walking out on stage to play some tunes!

I made some good music back in my teens and twenties. After a few high school bands, some of my buddies and I spent a couple years writing songs and playing venues in Southern New England. We really didn’t get too far, but no matter. It was just so exciting to be part of the Sixties culture, contributing to the perpetual soundtrack of the civil rights movement, the peace movement and the women’s movement. Cultural changes were coming fast and my basic world view was solidifying.  It’s there in my heart right now, forever intertwined with “All You Need is Love”, “Ohio”, “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “I Shall Be Released”.

Of course there were many other musicians whose music touched me throughout the years: The Band, James Taylor, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, the Roches, Rosanne Cash, Richard Thompson, Emmylou Harris, the Grateful Dead and U2.   But what do I listen to now from today’s music? Steve Earle has a heartfelt folk-rock repertoire.  Donna the Buffalo has a cool Cajun/retro sound. Ben Harper has great vocals and guitar licks. Gillian Welch is the queen of folk revival. Did you hear her this year enriching the Decemberists’ “The King is Dead” with killer harmonies? There’s still a world of great music out there, but admittedly, I now only stay marginally current with new songs and artists.

1995: With his wife Ann & friend Lynn Siegel (left), Bob played for several years in a folk trio comprised of members of their UU church. Two others often joined in to form as a quintet and they made some recordings.

In recent years, I’ve cranked out a handful of original songs about issues close to me. My wife and I wrote songs that celebrate adoption and recorded them with friends from church. I work at a school, so I wrote our school song. I wrote a good song just last year, inspired by my daughter’s struggle with religious intolerance (performed in the video below). My favorite music in the past five years has come from playing with family and friends in living rooms or gatherings around a campfire. I ushered in my 60^th birthday singing and dancing with friends and family around a bonfire out in the woods. What a kick! You should hear us jam on “Summertime”, “Shady Grove” or “Stop Draggin My Heart Around”. My colleagues and I also spread our love of music at the charter school where we work, leading weekly song circles with our students. Several school staff meet weekly for “guitar group” in the guidance counselor’s office (dubbed the Zen Den) where I teach guitar skills and we share songs. We visit Creedence and Dylan regularly. I also give some private guitar lessons.

2010: Music buddies at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, NC. Left to right, Charlie Keller, Jeff Japp, Bob, Eben Heasley, Terry Deal.

Ready for some lists? Here are some of my all-time favorites in no particular order.

10 Albums I Never Get Tired of

Rubber Soul – The Beatles

Out of Our Heads – The Stones

Blue – Joni Mitchell

After the Goldrush – Neil Young

Greatest Vols. 1&2 – Bob Dylan

Spy Boy – Emmylou Harris with Buddy Miller

We Three Kings – The Roches

Europe ’72 – The Grateful Dead

Rosanne Cash – The List

10 (okay, 11) Songs that Touch my Soul at Each and Every Listening (links to Youtube)

“Beeswing” - Richard Thompson

“I Can’t Make You Love Me” – Bonnie Raitt with Bruce Hornsby

“John Walker’s Blues” – Steve Earle

“Black Peter” and “Attics of My Life” – The Grateful Dead

“Bell Bottom Blues” – Derek and the Dominoes

“The Wind Cries Mary” – Jimi Hendrix

“Somebody to Love” – Jefferson Airplane

“Where The Streets Have No Name” – U2

“Dreamland” – Mary Chapin Carpenter

“This is Us” – Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler

Here’s  Bob and Ann Oakes singing a song that Bob wrote.  Videography by Jade Oakes.

Thanks, Bob~!  See you in Asheville soon (for the next Gardenblogger Fling). And readers, that’s Bob and I in the collage top right, in a field somewhere in England, 1969.

In the two months since I posted to this blog I’ve moved and done lots of shopping and planning for my new home and garden.  I’ll share about that soon enough but for now, I want to write about cycling again after at least 15 years.  My former neighborhood was terrible for cycling – hilly and dangerous – but my new one is fabulous, with trails and parks and even farmland.  So I took my old bike to a funky local bike shop (now owned by a 50-something woman I bonded with instantly) to get it ready for action again.   And here it is – my Nishiki Colorado vintage early ’90s, takings its first-ever trip on the subway to D.C.

Which makes me wonder why I’ve never done this before, taken a bike on the subway.  It cost nothing extra and is the absolute best way to see the memorials in the touristy part of town, where parking spaces are nonexistent.

Seeing the Monuments by Bike

The Martin Luther King Memorial, from across the Tidal Basin

My first stop and the main reason for the outing was to see the new MLK Memorial along the Tidal Basin, which I reviewed here.  It’s right next door to the FDR, my favorite, so I checked in there, and then for contrast, the World War II Memorial, which may be my least favorite of them all.

The World War II Memorial

Two wars.  Two completely opposite memorials.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Albert Einstein Memorial Statue

By chance I spied the new Albert Einstein statue, which I’d never seen in person.  A tour guide there pointed out that his nose has been wiped shiny by visitors rubbing it, and his lap gets a lot of sitting on, too.   I’m hoping to see some of that action the next time I visit.  Love the statue – it’s by the same sculptor who did the JFK bust in the Kennedy Center.

Cycling past Lakes and Farms

Much closer to home – in fact about a half-mile from my house – are the 6,500 acres of the Beltsville Ag Research Center (the largest in the world).  With the smell of fresh manure in the air and roads with names like Poultry, Dairy and Animal Husbandry, it seems like the real deal – farmland.  I’ve cycled there a few times already, and always stop at this stream to look for eagles returning to their nest, which you can see in this photo along the treeline, on the left.

Greenbelt Lake

And closest of all to my house is Greenbelt Lake, which I ride or walk around often.  I recently heard from someone who grew up here that it was dug by hand during the ’30s, to give work to the unemployed.  So thank you, New Deal Socialism!

Back in the Saddle at a Certain Age

I can certainly confirm the old adage that you never forget how to ride a bike.  Forgetting how to use the gears is something else, but it wasn’t hard to relearn.  My cycling now won’t be quite the same as it was in the ’90s, though.  I got rid of my fast(er) road bike and kept just the slower all-terrain bike.  No need to pretend to be a racer anymore. Also?  No need to ride with cycling groups that go way too fast for me, just because the cool guys are in the faster group.  IF I ride with groups again, it’ll be with the mostly female slow-poke groups, right where I belong.  And I sure as hell won’t be signing up for those killer cycling tours of Vermont like I once did with a former husband.  No more pretending to be like serious bikers, the ones who profess to liking hills.  Oy.

This is my last November looking out onto this awesome view (after 26 years).  But on the bright side, this view can be yours – read my Takoma Park House for Sale page.

View from the sunroom.

As I wrote recently on GardenRant, I thought I’d never leave my current garden, which after 26 years under my sometimes haphazard direction is looking pretty much done.  But for reasons I explained in that Rant post and in Susan Reimer’s column in the Baltimore Sun, I’ve decided to move.  And news flash – I’ve bought my next house!  It’s a co-op townhouse in historic Greenbelt, MD, one that’s just the right size for me, with right-size front and back yards, too.

I won’t be moving right away – gotta sell my current home first, and have some work done in the new place (total re-do of the kitchen and bath).   But come late winter or early spring, I’ll be doing total make-overs of these gardens, starting with ripping out the lawn in the photos above.   I’ll add seating to the front yard, too, because it’s a quiet spot that overlooks not a street but a small parking area shared by 10 homes that comprise our “court”.

In the back, photos above and below, I’ll add a screened-in porch across the entire house before I start planning the garden.  There’s one fabulous plant here that I’ll be keeping – a large Japanese maple – but otherwise, it’s pretty much a blank slate.  (Goody!)

View from the back door.

But there’s more – a large, flat grassy open area that’s shared by the 12 homeowners – perfect for badminton!  Don’t laugh – that and swimming competitively were the primary sports of my youth, though in the case of badminton it was all fun, no pressure, and the perfect after-dinner pastime with the family.  The open area is also prime for some new shrubs around its perimeter – which I’ve already brainstormed about with my new next-door neighbor – a gardening Englishwoman.  Perfect.

Madonna being caught on tape saying “I absolutely loathe hydrangeas” is apparently big news.  I say let’s not waste these beauties on the Material Girl.

The Garden Designers Roundtable invited the Lawn Reform Coalition to be their guest blogger(s) this month, combining forces to publish 18 articles about Lawn Replacement on the same day, and linking to each other. Great idea, designers!  Scroll down for the links to those 17 other blog posts, including one by me on GardenRant.  There I report on the disaster I made of my back-yard lawn replacement project – now bare earth fast eroding down the hillside.

I loved the colorful and tidy little mosaic of low groundcovers here in my front yard, all criss-crossed by brick pavers that repeat the brick in the sidewalk and porch floor.  I loved it all, that is, until the Thymes started dying off, and the Creeping Cinquefoil overtook the Creeping Jenny – a story of plant failures I chronicled here. (Details about the thymes and other plants from Stepables that I tested in this garden are listed here.)

The goal was and is to find plants that stay low, are evergreen (more or less) and require nothing at all – no watering, no feeding, obviously no mowing, and as little weeding as possible.  Also, they have to behave well with each other, not overtake their neighbors.  Keeping them all short helps – 3″ and shorter – and also avoiding plants that climb on top of each other, like the cinquefoil did.

So I got rid of the bullying Cinquefoil, and seeded some Alyssym over the remaining Creeping Jenny, which I’m keeping an eye on, hoping it thrives on the shadier side of this little plot.  I  removed all the (dying or at least not thriving) thyme from the sunnier side and planted 8 new creeping Sedums that I’m trying out for general vigor, rate of spread – important in a groundcover unless you have a large enough budget to accomplish instant coverage – and appearance throughout the year. (I sing their praises in this blog post). My tentative conclusion is that creeping Sedums could be a beautiful and nearly maintenance-free alternative to lawns on sunny spots – assuming good drainage for these dry-loving plants.   They sure do all that on green roofs.  They tolerate little to no foot traffic, of course.  Thus the criss-crossing pavers.  And no tag football or kids running through sprinklers.  Thanks to Sandy McDougall and Ed Snodgrass for all the plants!

Above, from left: S. spurium possibly ‘Dragon’s Blood‘ or ‘Fuldaglut‘ that was a passalong from a neighbor.  Next is a patch of S. reflexum ‘Blue Spruce,’ which is beautiful but grows VERY slowly; and above it, the much more vigorous S. rupestre ‘Angelina’. Far right: another chartreuse Sedum -  S. makinoi ‘Limelight,’ which has been a slow-grower for me.  In the foreground, lots of Alyssum.

Closer looks at (in foreground) S. spurium ‘Dragon’s Blood’ or ‘Fuldaglot”. I’ll be getting rid of this because – sorry – its coloring is too similar to soil.  It has very little impact here, and doesn’t fill in thick enough to prevent weeds, anyway.  Above it is the wonderful ‘Angelina’, which everyone seems to love – for good reason.  Just don’t step on it – it’s more breakable than most Sedums.

Above foreground, what’s left of the Creeping Jenny, with Alyssum in bloom.

Bottom left:  S. makinoi ‘Limelight’ - gorgeous but slow-growing.  Top left:  S. floriferum ‘Weihnstephaner Gold,’ which really does have gold blooms and is a moderate spreader.  On the right is an Ice Plant doing a bit of reblooming in August.  I love Ice Plant but it hasn’t spread much in its first year and it looks pretty bad in the winter.

Above left, some of the S. takesimemese that Ed Snodgrass gave me a big ‘ole flat of, which quickly proved to be the most vigorous Sedum I’ve ever green.  Great gold flowers, seen here having having turned brown by August but still looking fine by me.   I’ll be using LOTS of this Sedum.  On the right is  S. album ‘Coral Carpet’ (I think), which is spreading awfully slowly.

It’s funny how these two Sedums look exactly alike except for the color, but are actually two different species.  Plus, they perform so differently.  Left: S. reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’; right:  S. rupestre ‘Angelina’.

I’ve compiled info about all the Sedums I’m growing here on my website – that link includes Ed Snodgrass’s suggestions for covering ground in a variety of situations.  He’s the Green Roof Plants guy right here in Maryland, so he trials plants in the same climate as me.  Also on my website are links to blog stories about my lawn replacement journey, front yard and back.

Now check out posts about lawn replacement from these Lawn Reform Coalition members:

• Evelyn Hadden in Saint Paul, MN
• Saxon Holt in Novato, CA
• Ginny Stibolt in Green Cove Springs, FL
• Susan Morrison in East Bay, CA
• Shirley Bovshow in Los Angeles, CA
• Susan Harris in Takoma Park, MD – yes, it’s me again on GardenRant in a post about my back yard lawn replacement project, titled “From lawn to Sedum, clover, bare soil and erosion!”

And these members of the Garden Designers Roundtable:

• Scott Hokunson in Granby, CT
• Rochelle Greayer in Boston, MA
• Rebecca Sweet in Los Altos, CA
• Pam Penick in Austin, TX
• Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber in Bristol, UK
• Laura Liven Good Schaub in San Jose, CA
• Jocelyn Chilvers in Denver, CO
• Ivette Soler in Los Angeles, CA
• Genevieve Schmidt in Arcata, CA
• Douglas Owens-Pike in Minneapolis, MN
• Debbie Roberts in Stamford, CT

Seen today in just one block of town, just around the corner from me.

See how nicely tied-up these sunflowers are?  Pedestrians can just enjoy them, not have to fight their way through them.

Look how much gorgeousness and food for pollinators these neighbors pack into a planting strip along their driveway!

Next, a whole lotta impact in a small but prominent spot.

And every year, neighbors enjoy the long-lasting blooms of crape myrtle in front of this perfectly matched house.

Thank you, gardeners of Takoma Park.

I spotted this familiar image while perusing Timber Press’s latest catalog, and proceeded to shriek and run around like an excited 8-year-old.  (Just ask the 60+ other gardenbloggers I was with in Seattle – they witnessed the scene and won’t be forgetting it soon.)  The book is by Evelyn Hadden of Minnesota with photos by Saxon Holt of California, both of whom are my co-conspirators in the Lawn Reform Coalition.  Here’s more about the book, which will be available in February.

I sure wish that back yard looked as good NOW.  Horrible summer, ya know.

This guy’s great at making the Lawn Reform Coalition’s point.  Thanks!

Click here to read the 4,500+ comments on YouTube.

*Unless they’re needed to play on.

See the cherry laurel shrub on the left in the photo above?  There used to be one more to the right of it, the last in a hedge, until I chopped it down today because it was hiding this gorgeous Cryptomeria.  For years my neighbors have had a better view of it – until I got the chopping-down urge.  Earlier this week I similarly dispatched with a hybrid dogwood that was in front of the cherry laurel – waaaay too many plants in a tight spot.

But what’s so impressive is how full and perfect the Cryptomeria looks, despite having been in total shade from the big, full cherry laurel.  How many conifers could do that?  Notice I now have a clear view to some of my neighbor’s Bottlebrush Buckeyes, too.  Love ‘em.

Here are two more views of this awesome tree – on the left at just three years old along the north side of a neighbor’s house, where it gets good light but no direct sun.  And on the right is a close-up of one (spotted on a garden tour in D.C.) that shows how pretty and SOFT its needles are.  Nothing like the prickliness of this Deodar cedar on the other side of my back garden.  I love it, too, but I go out of my way to avoid being stabbed by it.

Notice a pattern here – adding conifers to my garden.  In addition to these two cedars, I’ve planted six ‘Green Giant’ Arborvitae, five Canadian Hemlocks (and checking for that horrible wooly adelgid that’s wiping them out), a Hinoki Cypress, a Dwarf White Pine and and several small Junipers.

Though I will admit to having some failures in this plant group – a Hollywood Juniper that the deer destroyed, and a Dwarf Albert Spruce that apparently really hates our climate.  At least they were both cheap.