I was as far north and east in Illinois as you can go. Russell IL. I was picking up some trees for the Church Project. New building, landscaping etc.
I have never been to Russell. I have never been to the absolute NE corner of IL. It is very beautiful and still largely unspoiled. For my friend Karma there are some prairies there. I was dazzled. The other thing is the makeup of the flora since this area bumping up against Lake Michigan is actually a zone 6 climate. Oh, it gets cold but it stays temperate. Kind of like Grand Haven Michigan across the lake.
You see the difference in the flora if you know what to look for. The weather is never too hot, never too cold and lots of lake effect snow cover and showers.
To get there was a 2 hour drive pulling a trailer. Nearly 3 coming back in rush hour traffic. There was a time when in fits of road rage, impatience, anger, and fierceness of desire to drive over the top of every other car I would have been exhausted from the rush of testosterone thru my veins. When I worked in "Town" and drove I experienced this a great deal. I could leave the office in pretty good spirits and 40 minutes in stop and go traffic and I was angry and exhausted. I made this trip without killing anyone. And, I was happy when I got home.
I don't tend to be a terribly patient person except horticulturually. I am quite content to plant a whip tree and know that long after I have stepped from time into eternity someone will enjoy the shade of it. I like seeing the progress of trees I planted 8 years ago. I note the growth. So, my need to see change for the better is satisfied.
Peggy does not share horticultural patience. She is famous for planting seeds and then digging them up in 3 weeks to see if they sprouted or not. Not a patient act.
I have determined that a green thumb can best be described as understanding a plant's needs better than our desire to have the plant do what we want it to do.
Light, not too much water (most people kill plants by too much water) only occasional light fertilization, keep from freezing in winter, keep from frying in summer. And patience. Lots of patience.
Most of what we do to plants isn't what they need. The plant know what it wants to do. When we force it to be something else it's abuse. I'm not a big topiary fan. Some plants are better behaved than others. Some need a hard haircut from time to time. Some need judicious pruning. Some need to be rouged out all together.
I ramble because the patience I lack or lacked in the past on the freeway is not the patience I need or use in horticulture. As I get older and my testosterone drops the anger drops with it. Oh, I'm still capable of fits of rage but less intense. On the other hand, I can walk by a plant and hear it talking to me. ""I'm thirsty. I have a broken branch. Look at the caterpillars or aphids attacking me. I need more light. I hate so much light. Let me rest a while. I'm happy. I'm under stress.""
They just speak silently and I don't know how I know. It's a look, its a gloss, it's a curl of a leaf, and I don't spend much time analyzing. I just know.
If you have a green thumb, and lots who read this do, you know exactly what I mean. If you don't and thumbwise it's brown you think this is all gobbledygook, sorry to bore you.
I loved NE IL and will go back.
I could live there.
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