DELLA M'ARCY TESTARROSA INTERVIEW WITH ANTIGONUM CAJAN

oEDITORS NOTE

Miss Testarrosa is one of those gardening characters

with a galaxy of tittles, tons of words/inquiries about the
practice, with light weight gardening to show.

ANTIGONUM CAJAN DECLARES


Some time ago I sent a couple of links to the British islander mentioned above,
 with her blessings soon after.  Only one thing was unusual and irritating, she demanded that I
translated Mr. Hernandez review in Spain(http://www.guiaverde.com/blog/destacadas/jardin-tropical-en-puerto-rico).
 
What she does for a living in her blog, is to inquire at will
about gardening, garden design, photography,
history to name a few, in her blog.  Therefore, she should
have inquired as she does with everyjuan else,
unless she cerebrates I have nothing transcending to say regarding our subject matter.
Well, Della M'arcy you are mistaken.  A pity, your condescending attitude
let that chance flee, your narrow template climate gardening views and exposition.

THE INTERVIEW THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

Della M'arcy:   What made you interested in gardening?

Antigonum Cajan:  I could say that having some relatives on the

maternal side of the family who were farmers, being exposed to their ways in my childhood and a cigar maker on the paternal, or genetically if I may,

is part of the reason.  I said agriculture, not gardening.  Any person who practices and studies gardening, horticulture, will never lose sight from that fact, one came before the other.

Besides, I have always propagated, since I was 19, collecting on an off for the last thirty years. Gardening,  was innate, without any pondering. In my case, similar to what whities usually write about darkies athletic abilities, a natural.

DM:   Why gardening?

AC:  If I have had  discipline and patience, I could have been a percussionist, painter,  basketball or billiards player.  But there is a trick, all those activities require the presence of the other, to be in contact with other people.  As a young misanthropist, with definite social skills difficulties there was not a chance, except painting. Gardening and painting have that requirement, one could become a perfectionist, covering the whole, without the need of a team, the other.  These two activities,  have other quality, composition, a gardener  or  painter without a deep

understanding of composition, becomes just one more Joe the Plumber/Six Pack or village idiot. Take your pick.

However, there is a vocation side of any activity.  When one chooses,

it is not important if other people recognize how well or poorly one performs, since the motivation comes from, may I say, a spiritual urge within, a mission, angry energy beyond the profiteering end.

Finally, there is the environment, the flora and fauna context, in my situation, urban concrete/asphalt. That determines my focus, even in this absolute sterile society with a. constant noise soundtrack. Through gardening, other creatures participate, collaborate and benefit. 

DM:   and then?  How did you become a gardener?  

AC:  Bella, darling, this interview is  getting like a beating the dead horse contest.  But here it is.  I became a gardener, propagating and planting, in that order.  Four decades later, I decided to get professional training in the New York Botanical Garden. I received a Commercial Horticulture Landscape Management Certificate in 2002.

Now, I was not only a gardener, I had credentials, always looking to develop, a restless urge to expand my views on horticulture, in my opinion, a much wider concept. To kick butt in Puerto Rico and elsewhere is also stimulating.  Lately, much less important.

In USA the infatuation with turf/lawns was evident during that period. Herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers and irrigation, trimmers, lawnmowers, blowers, soil/water/air/ pollution and noise was overwhelming. I did not realize it then. Later, I understood my blunt/abrasive animosity to lawns/turf and/or people who practice gardening with all the above evils, ignorant fools with/without blogs.

DM:    The name of your blog is very evocative-- tell me how this came about.

AC:   I have had other evocative blogs: Anglospano Review, endemismotrasnochado, upinthebreadfruittree.  With the infinite amount of gardening blogs with Gardening variables as a tittle, it could not have been any other way. The first two are my coinage, the last one,  surges from a tittle of a tune made popular by Rafael Cortijo, a musical/cultural icon.  Them blogs were finished by a hacker. 

My evening post is a tribute to the Saturday Evening Post.  Magazines a reading pleasure, now, most are dead and buried, thanks to the web, the cost of paper and lack of advertisements.  Readership?  That will require research. 

FINAL WORDS FROM YOUR HOST 

I have had some adventures  collecting, guerrilla gardening,

concrete roof gardening, the seemingly ignored practice of gardening with vines for fragrance, shade, privacy and security. Compost and compost tea, home made insecticides, garden design with eco-region flora/fauna in focus, the destructive influence of nurseries in creativity, propagating skills among people. In addition,  creative horticultural criticism and perhaps more pertinent, becoming an authority, at least on my mind, regarding the foolish garden plant selection, installation and maintenance polluting practices prevailing in Puerto Rico and  USA.  You are invited to research and find any other source regarding all that is mentioned here about gardening, horticulture and agriculture for the last

twenty years.  Please do not forget the masters,  include those landscape architects, paradigms of narrow minds without salvation here.

The issues above deserved an interview, or
a couple of questions, you beach!.

that is that.. almost

Let the record show I have encountered

olympic supremacist views in garden rant.com.

Having spent half my existence in the belly of the

beast, racism and prejudice are fine with me.

But condescending behavior, I can/will not tolerate

We, those living below the Equator, can also

ponder, discern, experiment, be inquisitive about research and set trends, imaginary or
real.  It is not

your monopoly, within gardening theory and praxis, or  any other
subject, you name it.


Thanks Della for the inspiration.
Without you it would not
have been the same.