SEATTLE — Even on a wet winter day, Ciscoe Morris' garden thrives.
And recently the Pacific Northwest's favorite gardener has been growing something special indoors: A new book titled with his trademark phrase: Oh, La La: Homegrown Stories, Helpful Tips and Garden Wisdom.
"So it's short stories about gardening, dogs and travel - all the things I love most in life,” said Ciscoe from his Seattle home. The Master Gardener digs deep into his past in this book, among the surprises he reveals: his parents were actually Vaudeville dancers!
"They danced until I came along, I was the fifth kid and there were just too many kids they couldn't keep going all over the country,” he said as he watched a short black and white film clip of his parents high stepping.
Ciscoe got his first gardening job at a church in his hometown of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - when he was just 10: "The poor head gardener, when this 10-year-old kid comes walking in and he’s the new assistant gardener, the poor guy, HA! It was the first time I saw a grown man cry!” Ciscoe laughed.
That job taught him to go organic, before that approach even had a name.
“So I learned a lot from the gardener there, old Joe, cool thing about him was that he would not use poisons. Something happened to him in World War II he never really talked about it much but he hated poisons and I learned all these great techniques that people weren't into at all at that time."
Ciscoe tells stories from his past in this book, but he shared some things with Evening that aren’t in the book: a high school photo, and other, later photos from his wild and woollier days.
"I was quite the hippie, I embraced the hippie culture big time,” said Ciscoe, referring to the whole peace and love thing. He also talks about his stint in the military – he explains he had a low number and was a draftee.
Gardeners will find all the tips they want in the book, as well as some thoughts on how not to train dogs. Ciscoe is a life-long dog lover, his current pups are rescue dogs Leo and Izzy. They seem well behaved, but Ciscoe says don’t let ‘em fool you.
“When we went to get Izzy the woman at the doggy rescue, she said 'Do you want the Big One or the Calm One, or the really Active One?’ What was I thinking when I took the really active one! Oh my god she has eaten six holes through the walls of our house, she ate the rug, ate both our couches and ate my hearing aid and I'm sure she's not done yet!!!”
Ciscoe Morris' new book proves his greatest gift, besides gardening of course, is spinning a good story.
AUTHOR EVENT: Ciscoe Morris is signing his new book at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park at 7:00 pm on Jan 22, 2020
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