I have been sharing pictures of flowers growing around my house, mostly little things like poppies and roses, or my fields, and several people have asked me to write about gardening, or for gardening advice. But this request encounters a ridiculous shortcoming: I know almost nothing about gardening!
I am reminded of "Bunny" Mellon of Oak Spring Garden in Virginia, saying
"Gardens like many beautiful things one thinks will never change – never cease to be what they are, never die – they follow the cycle of all living things, never remaining the same. Take notes to help remind those in later years of all they possessed so that they may imagine dreams and perhaps renew part of what has been."
Her gardens are a bit on the structured side, but I cannot deny they affect me. My accidental gardening fixation is the bleeding heart, dicentras. To me a rose bush is a fine defensive line.
"I cannot write what I know, as the phrase goes, but I can write what I’m learning." — where's this from? I love it.
I was talking yesterday with a friend who's been making pottery. There's so much knowledge that comes from the doing of a thing that is unrelated to conceptual or verbal knowledge. It's humbling to step into a new practice, and at the same time it's expansive. You get the sense of entering into a whole world.
As someone who is looking to start gardening soon, I found this very helpful. I’ve got small children and want them to love and appreciate nature and I believe a garden like the one you described can help teach those lessons. I love the contrast between the two pictures. I’m not interested in anything that prim, I also want something that is living. The prim yard would only be described as nice by some. The garden you described would be described as beautiful. I’ll take beautiful over “nice” any day.
I recently moved to the Lowcountry and bought my first house after a lifetime of apartment living. I have a decent bit of space and I want to turn my back yard into a garden and my front yard, a corner yard, into something more wild and interesting. Every house in my area looks like the picture you posted, the well-manicured lawn. My biggest problem right now is that I know nothing about gardening.
Given that most folk are not interested in growing a garden, but controlling a yard that will be used for occasional lounging, I am starting to think single detached houses are less suited for most people.
My experience with deer and roses has been negative for most roses, but shrub roses were mostly ignored by the deer. It was discouraging to come out in the morning and find the roses devoid of buds, and sometimes of leaves as if the plant had been vacuumed. I wish you better luck. Larry Seymour
I am reminded of "Bunny" Mellon of Oak Spring Garden in Virginia, saying
"Gardens like many beautiful things one thinks will never change – never cease to be what they are, never die – they follow the cycle of all living things, never remaining the same. Take notes to help remind those in later years of all they possessed so that they may imagine dreams and perhaps renew part of what has been."
Her gardens are a bit on the structured side, but I cannot deny they affect me. My accidental gardening fixation is the bleeding heart, dicentras. To me a rose bush is a fine defensive line.
This was helpful, thx
"I cannot write what I know, as the phrase goes, but I can write what I’m learning." — where's this from? I love it.
I was talking yesterday with a friend who's been making pottery. There's so much knowledge that comes from the doing of a thing that is unrelated to conceptual or verbal knowledge. It's humbling to step into a new practice, and at the same time it's expansive. You get the sense of entering into a whole world.
As someone who is looking to start gardening soon, I found this very helpful. I’ve got small children and want them to love and appreciate nature and I believe a garden like the one you described can help teach those lessons. I love the contrast between the two pictures. I’m not interested in anything that prim, I also want something that is living. The prim yard would only be described as nice by some. The garden you described would be described as beautiful. I’ll take beautiful over “nice” any day.
I recently moved to the Lowcountry and bought my first house after a lifetime of apartment living. I have a decent bit of space and I want to turn my back yard into a garden and my front yard, a corner yard, into something more wild and interesting. Every house in my area looks like the picture you posted, the well-manicured lawn. My biggest problem right now is that I know nothing about gardening.
Given that most folk are not interested in growing a garden, but controlling a yard that will be used for occasional lounging, I am starting to think single detached houses are less suited for most people.
My experience with deer and roses has been negative for most roses, but shrub roses were mostly ignored by the deer. It was discouraging to come out in the morning and find the roses devoid of buds, and sometimes of leaves as if the plant had been vacuumed. I wish you better luck. Larry Seymour