~Grandmother Never Bought a Plant~
I suppose that is not literally true since in the beginning she bought vegetables and fruits for eating and then used their seeds to start plants.
Grandmother's garden was filled with many plants--I wish I could remember all of them--including Sweet Gum, Peach, Fig, Weeping Willow, and Magnolia trees; white and blue Hydrangeas, Azaleas, various Roses, Bleeding Hearts, Ferns, Periwinkle; Weigelia, Privet, and Barberry shrubs; succulents, and a vegetable garden.
Grandmother's garden was developed from "found" items, so to speak. My grandmother knew that plants could be started from the seeds they produced (no sterile hybrids for her). She also exchanged plants and cuttings with her neighbors. If she liked a plant, she made as many as she wanted from cuttings or seeds. Her neighborhood was filled with open fields (nowadays, almost gone for the rest of us), and these areas were great places to find plants.
Obviously, one of the things my grandmother brought to this garden and learned from it--was patience. In this era of instant gratification, we forget that good things are worth the wait, that patience really is a virtue, and that there is nothing wrong with frugality, either!
~Biographies~
*My grandmother started me down the garden path and Gertrude and Jim push me along. I do know that while all my mentors are deceased, I hear their voices loud and clear -- know the environment in which you want to garden, gardening is hard work, gardens take time to develop, start plants from cuttings, and that nature is not always on our side. In other words, be realistic, be frugal, and have patience.
*Gertrude Jekyll (1843 - 1932; photogragh from her book: Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden) has had the most pronounced influence on English and American gardening. She studied the landscape and designed flower borders, woodlands, and specimen tree and shrubery placement with regard to color, vista, soil, and year-round pleasure. Gertrude Jekyll approached the garden as a canvas. It has been said that Monet planted his gardens to paint them while Gertrude Jekyll's garden was the painting.
*James Underwood Crockett (1915 - 1979; photograph from his book: Crockett's Victory Garden) was the original host of PBS's The Victory Garden, then called Crockett's Victory Garden. I was fortunate to see his weekly shows. He showed that while gardening was work, it was also enjoyable with great rewards. While reading gardening books is informative, it was great to see and hear a gardener in action and see the results. It was good for morale! Jim made a statement on a show about asters that has become famous in my family because not only does it apply to gardening -- it applies to many things in life: Life is too short to stake asters.
*Painting of a child who reminds me of myself and grandmother in her garden: Monet - The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil.
~Gardening in Connecticut~
The Ice Age was not a good thing for gardeners in this area. On its march to Long Island and the sea, the glacier removed the soil down the bedrock and then when it melted, it dropped terminal moraine (rocks) in its wake -- except for southern Long Island where it was nice enough to deposit a glacial outwash plain (sand).
My family gardened on Long Island. When I moved to Connecticut and wanted to garden, I bought a shovel. What did I know? Quickly after that, my husband bought a pick axe.
Gardening here means "digging" out rocks and then going off to buy a truckload of topsoil--and while you are at it: sharp (not play or all-purpose) sand, and a ton of peat moss--to fill in the holes so that your plants may live long and prosper.
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The Name Game
As I was planning the areas to be planted, I realized I was confusing myself because I wasn't always calling my various gardens and gardenettes by a unique name because I couldn't remember them! Then I remembered in Gertrude's book (yes, we are on a first name basis) her garden areas had names, and I remembered that other gardens I have visited had "named" gardens. Well, of course, areas have name designations throughout the world -- so why not my garden? I had sort-of given names to areas, but as I found out, I keep inadvertently changing them. Sometimes, the light bulb takes a long time to go on ...
OK, time to pick names and stick with them! The important thing here is that the name must make a good fit so that I (and the rest of my family) can remember it. I love the phrase cottage garden but I do not have a cottage. What I do have, though, is a gazebo...and it just turns out that the gazebo is at the end of the "summer perennial border" and could be considered the "cottage" for the garden. Thus I do have a cottage garden. Besides, I once read that the definition of cottage garden was "controlled chaos" -- I just love that phrase and it fits my garden to a "T".
~~Official Name-- I hearby rename the "summer perennial border" (and all its various alias) The Cottage Garden.
Well, that wasn't too bad... so moving right along (as Fozzy used to say)...
The other side of the original perennial bed oval may have a perennial or two, but will mainly have shrubs. Now, I have other shrub areas, so I need something specific... hmmmm...
~~Official Name-- The shrub area facing the Cottage Garden will be the Cottage Shrub Border. This name does not exactly trip off the tongue, but it is consistent.
I thought it was time to add a plot plan. This is not the neatest; it really needs to be redrawn, not just scribbled over, but at least I have this.
The area with the copper beech as its focal point will be known as the Copper Beech Garden (very catchy).
There are areas not on this drawing in the back yard : the Porch Garden, the Den Garden, the Linden Garden, the Greenhouse Garden, and others that have no names yet, or names that change daily!
Enough of this -- I am exhausted! Thank you for bearing with me. This blog was basically for me to help organize my thoughts.
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