Garden Spells

One of the novel’s first introductions to Claire describes how she felt, as a child newly arrived in Bascom, to be identified as part of the Waverley family; her response is nearly euphoric. The narrator goes on to say, “[F]rom that day on she would follow her grandmother out into the garden very morning, studying her, wanting to be like her, wanting to do all the things a true Waverley did to prove that, even though she wasn’t born here, she was a Waverley too” (9). Claire’s longing to be identified as part of this family introduces the theme of how a place can shape a person’s identity and the ways the expectations of a place can be confining, supportive, or liberating.

Claire’s personal example of imitating her grandmother shows how the land they live on contributes to the identity of the Waverleys, whose reputation in Bascom has been established around their apple tree’s power and the gifts that Waverley women seem to inherit. Being a Waverley outside of Bascom has no meaning without the town legend that Waverleys possess special gifts. This identity is rooted not just around the apple tree but also in the garden; as Claire notes, “Generations of Waverleys had tended this garden. Their history was in the soil, but so was their future” (5). Claire’s identity is wrapped around the Waverley home and gardens, and the local cultural knowledge that goes along with their place in the town.

Sydney, on the other hand, provides an example in the novel of how the link between place and identity can become oppressive. The reputation that Waverleys were odd or strange led to loneliness for her as a child, when Henry Hopkins—whose family has a reputation of its own—was her only friend. Later, Sydney understood that her identity as a Waverley was part of the reason that Hunter John didn’t want a future with her. He used the excuse of incompatible family identities to end their relationship, telling Sydney that he had an obligation to uphold his own family name and breaking her heart in the process. For Claire and Hunter John, identification with the family name has had a positive effect, leading to business opportunities and respect from the community. But Sydney found this link to a family name painful and rejected it when she left Bascom, taking the name Cindy Watkins—a name that had no associations with her family, her hometown, or the Waverley reputation.

While Sydney gradually comes to terms with her place in Bascom, in the family, and as a Waverley—an acknowledgement helped when Claire attributes Sydney’s gift with hair to part of the Waverley magic—Bay illustrates how a person can, rather than inheriting associations, use a location to consciously shape their identity or place of belonging. Throughout the novel, Bay seeks to replicate an image she has of lying beneath the apple tree, hearing the rustle of papers, and seeing small flecks of colored lights on the surfaces around her. She is convinced that, if she can recreate this scene, she can confirm that she belongs in this new place. She’s seeking signs that she can safely associate herself with this new family situation and find the nurturance and security that were missing from the home with her abusive father. For Sydney, Claire, and Bay, the sense of belonging they seek is centered around and defined by their family garden and its apple tree, symbolizing how an individual identity and a family heritage can be deeply tied to a specific place.

In Garden Spells, it’s taken as fact that families residing in Bascom share certain definitive qualities. The way that family members think about and employ their gifts, and the consequences of this exercise, invite discussion around the value, intention, and impact of these skills, raising questions about what obligation an individual has when making use of a special talent.

Although the Waverleys are the focus of the novel, many of the families in Bascom are given attributes that locals use to define family members. For some families, like the Hopkins, the reputation serves family members well. The Hopkins men, for example, are characterized as being wiser than their years, and so they tend to marry older women with more life experience, making strong, lasting matches. Emma and the women in her family are seen as being sexually skilled, a talent that Emma uses to manipulate others, using sexual provocation to both attract and keep Hunter John throughout the novel. Rather than accentuating emotions that might already exist, Emma hopes to redirect her husband’s feelings and distract him from entertaining any regrets about the choices he made in life. When this effort backfires and she ends up embarrassing herself, making her father-in-law uncomfortable, and angering Hunter John, her example suggests that using one’s abilities to manipulate or influence is indeed questionable behavior.

The Waverleys are Bascom’s most prominent example of a family with gifts and talents, but unlike Emma, they use those gifts to help others, not manipulate them. Evanelle illustrates how her talent eventually benefits the giver and offers peace of mind, even if the immediate value of the gift isn’t clear. Claire’s skill for preparing food and drink made of the plants in her garden is another example of a gift being used to help others; her honeysuckle wine at the Fourth of July celebration is believed to give one the helpful ability to see in the dark, and the rose geranium wine is desirable because of its special properties. When Claire adds elements to Tyler’s food in hopes of influencing his feelings, however, she intends to use her skill to manipulate him. She does the same with guests at Emma’s party, raising the question of whether using plants with special properties is morally permissible and highlighting how the question isn’t whether a talent is good or bad, but how it is used.

The apple tree offers a further moral complication around the question of proper administration of magical gifts. Claire believes the ability to see the most important event in one’s life is dangerous, and Lorelei’s tragic life seems to suggest this is a reasonable fear. It is a protective gesture on the part of the Waverleys to bury the apples and fence off the yard. However, when Tyler eats an apple, he dreams of intimacy with Claire, and he later has the pleasure of experiencing a dream come true. Claire would have kept this from him, given her choice. What a person sees when eating an apple is a reflection of their personality, and so, in a sense, the Waverley decision not to share the apples is a choice to restrict or deny this special awareness. In addition, the tree’s own eagerness to distribute its gifts suggests the Waverleys are actively working to suppress or limit access to a gift that by rights should be accessible to all. While the novel doesn’t offer judgment on the various characters’ use of their talents, it does offer an opportunity to reflect on when the exercise of certain talents may be appropriate and when a person goes too far.