Thanksgiving...of course.
Of course I am filled with thankful reflections this week.
I was brought up to be a thankful person.
We would sit around the table each Thanksgiving to a glorious meal, and express the very things for which we were thankful.Â
This year, I was reflecting on my own life and on the life of my best friend, who sadly passed at the young age of 62. I designed his head stone with a grove of Douglas Fir trees. Like me, he was from Oregon, whose state tree is the Douglas Fir, and he attended David Douglas High school. As my life has been primarily about gardening and the outdoors, my reflections brought me to thinking about David Douglas himself, and I realized I have much to be thankful for because of him.
This great Scottish botanist was honored in many ways, not the least of which was the Oregon State Tree, the Douglas fir. He was an avid gardener, and collector of plants.
On his second trip to America from Scotland in July, 1824, he visited the Pacific Northwest… specifically the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
This is my home, and where it all began for me as a gardener.
Of his trips to America, this would be perhaps his most impactful and most successful.
Employed by the Royal Horticultural Society, Douglas went in search of new plant species. In his explorations, he would end up introducing the Douglas Fir (his namesake), Sitka Spruce, Sugar Pine, Noble Fir, Lodgepole Pine, Grand Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Monterey Pine, Western White Pine, and other conifers that would completely transform the landscape of Great Britain.
Something that may get overlooked by the avid gardener who knows who David Douglas is, and his amazing contribution, is the fact that he was an avid outdoorsman. He hiked and climbed multiple summits in the course of his explorations, just because they were there. He was only the second European to reach the summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
Sometimes I look at a life, my life, that has been spent almost entirely outdoors for work and recreation, and wonder why I have been drawn so strongly, reclusively at times, to do the work I do.
David Douglas reminds me that we must each navigate this beautiful world in the way that speaks best to our heart and soul.
May each of you enjoy the celebration of Thanksgiving with a gratitude for the things that make you, uniquely you.
WEEKLY VIDEO:
We are back from our Thanksgiving holiday vacation, and would like to thank all of our subscribers for your support as we continue forward with our channel. Today, James talks about a little tree wisdom about planting your trees with the end in mind. He tells us a story about two trees conflicting for sunlight and what gardeners have done to solve the problem.