My Gardens
When I lived in Arlington, Virginia, I had a garden. The first thing I tried, which made the neighbors laugh, was that I used a measuring stick to plant bulbs in a small space right in front of my house! I also had a cherry tree and panicked when my dad pruned it! It survived; he knew what he was doing, but I did not.
When I came to live with Armin at 15 Arnold Park, there was one deep red tree peony in the backyard. It is still there, still blooming every spring. Now it has “friends” of tree peonies of different colors which bloom every year.
My mother sent pansies for a few years and several peony plants one year. That began my serious gardening which starts with my first trip to the nursery every spring, picking pansies and petunias in colors I like.
I don’t remember when I bought the first blue pots for my front steps, but I found them at The Artful Gardner who caries ones that survive the Rochester winters. Now a group of blue pots line the sidewalk and steps to my front door, each filled with that year’s design of beautiful colors.
It was when we took down four old evergreen trees (one always dropped sap on our cars in the driveway which was the first to go. It opened up so much light that we took down the rest).
About that time, there was a knock on my door and Milli Picconi introduced herself. She was working next door in the garden and wanted to know where the property line was - on the north. I showed her and she left. But it registered that her business was Perennial Design and I immediately went to talk with her. (I had gotten one proposed plan for the front of the house and did not like it). Here was someone who did flowers for a garden! Milli became my garden designer – and friend. But I continued going to nurseries throughout the seasons and picking out things I liked – asking “Where can this go, Milli?”
Mili planned the trees that form the back of my garden; the cousa dogwood that goes beside the pink dogwood that was already there, the rhododendrons in deep red colors and my favorite crabapple tree. Eventually lilacs were added and roses, completely circling the walls of my home.
In more recent years, the blue pots were added to the front garden as well which I fill with annual flowers. Did I mention I love blue? It is my favorite color.
The purple lace cap hydrangea in the very front and most dynamic place in the garden was a gift Armin brought home from Arenas Florist after we visited Nantucket and marveled at so many of the beautiful lace cap hydrangeas.
Eventually I realized my gardening has taken the place of painting and photography which I had loved as an artistic outlet. All of the walls in my home are filled; the gardens give me lots of opportunities every spring to “paint” with flowers in colors I love
One year I went to Holland on a business trip and went to the Keukenhof which is a place where all of the tulip growers come to show their flowers. I fell in love with tulips and every year I still order tulip bulbs from the Dutch growers.
The pink dogwood blooms along with the cherry tree and the cherry trees on the mall on our street. We always watched to see if they would bloom on May 1st for Armin’s birthday.
Gardening is a lot of work and demands attention and watering when it does not rain. It is physical which helps me stay active – I do not like exercise! But each year it is like a new painting to fill the blue pots which are welcoming beauty for my clients.
I love the way flowers bloom, then wilt while the next one blooms. It is also fleeting – like life -- a beautiful cycle to enjoy the flowers in my garden to make the most of each moment.
This is how I came to see that Beauty is Human Encouragement.
