Outside my kitchen window, a little hummingbird sits in the shade — the perch, a plant stake, the view, a nearby hummingbird feeder. I like to imagine this little bird could be the one I rescued some time ago. Pure fantasy I know, but there is a sense of kinship with these tiny creatures.
Madame Ganna Walska’s Lotusland
In the wonderland that is California, Madame Ganna Walska’s Lotusland is as Walska herself put it: “out of this world.”
Ganna Walska was a fascinating, exotically beautiful opera singer. Born in Poland in 1887, her mother died when she was only nine, she lived with relatives until she fled Poland for Russia. By age 20 she had married a Russian Count. She began singing opera to gain the attention of another very wealthy Russian. She created her stage name “Ganna” a Russian form of Hannah, added “Walska” for her love of waltzing, and Madame came as a title given to known opera singers and actresses of the time. The first half of her life was devoted to her singing, her marriages, (six in total), a career which included her very own theatre in Paris, her own special scent and a spiritual quest for personal fulfillment. Men pursued her and her many marriages added to her fortunes.
The Caring of the Green. . A Love Story
The Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island in Washington State is a unique public green space, often referred to as both a garden and an arboretum. The word reserve is defined as a tract of land set aside for special use. The 150 acre sanctuary is not a place of formal flower gardens, but it is a garden created by an exceptional couple who lived in a French country-style house overlooking Puget Sound. Surrounded by forested lands, they worked to discover a way to arrange the plants to create a place where “one can come for a walk in the woods.”
Zest for Life
Sitting on a Paris bench in May I was enjoying a view of the Eiffel Tower. The beds of the park had been freshly dug exposing the rich dark soil and I knew colorful summer plants would be arriving soon. An elderly woman came walking through the grass pulling her shopping cart. She stopped at the flower bed. In the bright light of day she removed her red trowel and a plastic shopping bag. Bending over she began carefully filling the bag with fresh soil.
Garden of Heart, Art & Flower
“The ongoing relationship of a human being with a certain plot of ground is at its heart a romance, for to garden honestly is to fall in love, in love with the rhythms and miracles of nature, in love with life itself.” Scott Ogden, The Moonlit Garden
Changing the View
September to December
If you ever indulge yourself in the Home and Garden TV fantasy experience of an entire remodel in less than an hour you realize, in more rational moments, life isn’t like that. Living through a major garden redesign is one of those events that remind you what reality really looks and feels like.
Rich’s Workshop
Rich works with metal, wood, tile and glass. He likes to figure things out, he measures so carefully, to the 64th of an inch. Here he is in mid project of some of the work he has done for the garden.
Military Tanks Among the Flowers
In all my wandering through beautiful gardens I never expected to see a row of military tanks landscaped with potted plants. A collection of 11 army tanks ranging from a 1917 WWI vehicle to the Abrahams tank of Desert Storm line up as if ready for inspection. The big guns now silent, sit under the shade of large oak trees. In Catigny Park, 30 miles west of Chicago, there is just such a scene. It startled me. It made me stop, sit down and think about military equipment in a beautiful garden. But then the profit of travel and exploring gardens is learning and here I had much to learn.
Loving Santa Fe
Santa Fe – Fans already know that the climate, creativity, culture, and cuisine are reasons enough to visit this unique city. If you needed another reason to love Santa Fe, you have it now in the newly opened Botanical Garden. This special garden adds another level of enchantment for this high desert region, especially for gardeners!
A Traveling Garden
If you are going to spend a summer in the mountains what sweeter place could there be than “Happy Jack?” Once again my peppermint twist geraniums summered here escaping the killing heat of their winter home. So this week we drove up north to collect them in our new improved “geranium transporter” or Honda Ridgeline pick up w/ a topper shell so they can ride protected back to the valley. It holds nearly 25 pots of flowers with out bending or breaking of stems! Ever so much better than our previous truck!