Sunday, September 21, 2008

Flow


Gardening is just not in my genes. But an appreciation of others' horticultural handiwork is. This is part of a garden that I walk by on the way to my favorite place to meet friends, relax and enjoy a salad.

The past few seasons in fashion, shades of green have been pretty big; so much so that it's something of a cliche, having worked its way down to the Targets of the world and back out again.

But I adore all the shades of greens you can find in nature, and pairing them with deep purples and vibrant blues makes both colors just pop with electricity.

I'm in awe of gardeners who can interpret "Plant 24 inches apart in bright sun, will grow 8 to 10 in tall" and know that they'll have an undulating carpet of color before summer's end.

Perhaps a course is in my future, and that may help. Understanding which plants are good for support and background while others need to be propped up to shine may help my own planning efforts.

They say that fall is the best time to install perennials, so after we get back from a quick trip to the beach, that's on my agenda, too.

In the wake of this week's financial turmoil, it might be restorative to think about nature, and not ones and zeroes and decimal points for a while.

2 comments:

Kitty said...

I think gardeners have a sense of things from looking at other gardens. It seems much more intuitive to me than scientific. My mom is a crazy gardener, and she is definitely not scientific!

hope you get to planting!

Anonymous said...

Like your Mom's way with plants, the best gardeners seem to go by feel, an innate understanding of what works.

They also seem fearless when it comes to switching things around, digging up a plant they realize doesn't work in a certain spot. And getting it to successfully take once they move it!

Besides not having the touch when it comes to transplanting and rearranging, I'm also guilty of over- or under-watering... can never find the right balance.

Been too rainy this weekend to get anything in the ground; hopefully next weekend we can get some planting done!