A proper green and sturdy hedge sets a boundary, saying, “Stay on your side.” In an urban setting, a proper hedge can block prying eyes overlooking your hot tub or spare you from an unappealing view. A nice hedgerow through a field has a similar message, but it may invite voles, moles, and birds to settle in.
Category: England
Finding a Pathway Through The Plants
Finding your way forward during these times of uncertainty can be challenging. Nonstop news of floods, fires, searing heat, wild winds, and tragic wars magnify our uncertainties. I look to the garden for direction. I am ready to immerse myself in a green walk among the plants.
Guardians of the Gardens
Heading into a new year the last thing any of us wanted was another round of virus vexation. Most of us have done everything we can to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. We’ve stayed home in our gardens (if we are lucky enough to have one), we’ve worn our masks, gotten our shots, and yet here we are still on the bumpy road of uncertainty, restrictions, and canceled plans.
Resting Places
There will always be work to do in a garden, but why create a bit of heaven on earth if we don’t occasionally sit and feast our eyes on the beauty right in front of us?
Splash
As the summer temperatures rise, we have waterparks, swimming pools, and water blasters for cooling off. It is such fun to anticipate the cool plunge, the joy of the cooling water. Expecting the splash is fun; a random splash is a water joke*.
100 years of Gardening, Kiftsgate Courts Garden
Kiftsgate Courts Garden, Chipping Campden, England
Sometimes the most striking gardens are not those perfectly plotted on flat ground. Hills, valleys, and rocks may seem like less than favorable conditions, but gardeners are not easily deterred and will find a way.
Windows – an Overlooked Miracle
Gardens are, as they always were, a retreat. Centuries ago, humans retreated from the wildness of nature, seeking protection from “lions, tigers and bears.” Today the garden is a retreat from the wildness of 21st-century life. Encouraged to shelter inside because of the pandemic it seems the world is looking out a window wondering what the way forward will be.
Memorable Moments 2018
2018 was a wonderful year of visiting gardens. We took three trips; a short spring trip to Atlanta, GA, a six-week road trip through the US, and a 30-day fall trip to England. Looking over my journals and photos of the past year it is full of memorable moments of the beauty in our world. I want to share a few marvels that delighted me along the way.