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Quote of the Day: David Culp

February 3rd, 2013

Sometimes the most memorable garden moments are the most fleeting, as when a single leaf, backlit by the sun, is transformed from opaque to a translucent tracery of veins more beautiful than any stained glass. I hate to leave my garden for any length of time because it means I miss these moments, or the more predictable blooms of favorite plants.

David Culp from The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage
flowering bulbs 6
flowering bulbs 5
flowering bulbs 1
flowering bulbs 7
flowering bulbs 2
flowering bulbs 3
flowering bulbs 4

A couple weeks ago I was looking through my photos of the old garden back in Ohio. It’s bittersweet for sure, I’m sad that I’ll be missing so many wonderful moments this spring. I’ll be missing the thousands of tulips, narcissus, bluebells, crocuses and other flowering bulbs I planted. The 15 varieties of peonies and 30 varieties of hydrangeas will also bloom without me seeing them. At least I have thousands of images of my old garden.

What plant or flower is most memorable to you?

16 Comments to “Quote of the Day: David Culp”
  1. Brenda on February 3, 2013 at 6:40 am

    I hope the people who now live in your old home appreciate them, just think of all the beautiful flowers and amazing gardens you will make here xxbrnda

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  2. Marina C on February 3, 2013 at 7:15 am

    They may just become gardeners because of all the surprises you left for them! Your photos are capture the magic of the light perfectly.
    I really can’t pick a favorite, I love the riot of flowers that come with spring, tulips, bluebells, Scillas, narcissi, peonies, and the ephemeral ones, like Virginia bluebells, May apples, dog tooth violets, trilliums, , hound tooth fritillarias with their checker board pattern, violets, forget me not… I love every one!
    I made a small woodland garden on one corner of our two acres to have some of the delights that were in our woods when we had 160 acres.
    We did the opposite of what you have just done.
    You are having/going to have so much fun!
    Thank you for sharing always.
    I am sending a one time donation to help with the costs and I bet other people will too!

    Reply to Marina C's comment

  3. Jennifer Fisk on February 3, 2013 at 8:04 am

    I purchased a couple of Stargazer Lilies at the Bangor Garden Show and planted them next to the house. That wonderful scent permeated my downstairs. It was lovely.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  4. Sandi Crabtree on February 3, 2013 at 8:11 am

    Love your quote and photos. I left behind a 10 year old white tree peony, and and an equally aged wisteria trained into a standard in addition to many other very special plants including massive hydrangeas. The person who purchased my home knew nothing about gardening. I can only hope that they were able to learn because of what treasures they were left. -Sandi

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  5. Maybelline on February 3, 2013 at 9:01 am

    The 1st thing that came to mind was a Split Leaf Philodendron; so I guess that’s the most memorable – but not a favorite.

    It would be very difficult for me to leave my garden for someone else to enjoy.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  6. kathi Cook on February 3, 2013 at 9:09 am

    Choose my favorite child? Haha

    Reply to kathi Cook's comment

  7. Joan on February 3, 2013 at 9:20 am

    How much fun you’ll have seeing what comes up in the gardens at your new home! And in a few years, your new gardens will be just as beautiful as your old ones…

    Reply to Joan's comment

  8. Nebraska Dave on February 3, 2013 at 10:36 am

    Susy, for me there’s no doubt that the hollyhocks the grew by my grandmother’s house are my favorite. I’ve tried to grow them but without success. Long after she was gone, those hollyhocks bloomed in memory of her presence there. The house where grandma lived has since gone into un repairable decay and those hollyhocks have be smothered out my untamed weeds and wild growth but the memories still continue in my mind.

    Have a great garden day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

    • Susy on February 3, 2013 at 11:12 am

      I love hollyhocks, I remember always seeing them growing by the garage of this one house we’d drive by when I was a little girl. I loved them!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  9. KimH on February 3, 2013 at 11:32 am

    Hollyhocks remind me of my great grandmother too.. we used to make dolls from them when we were kids…

    I think my most favorite memorable plant was a Gardenia shrub we had in our front yard when I was growing up. When I was a little girl, I used to play with one of the best dogs we ever had under the shade of that big ol “tree”. It almost always smelled heavenly and we (kids) were known to eat the flowers too Its still my favorite scent to this day..

    Hurricane Beulah came along in 1967 and blew my beautiful Gardenia tree away..never to be seen again. It still makes me sad to this day.
    Our home was also surrounded by an olive orchard, bougainvillea hedges, huge native trees & scrub brush woods that all suffered a lot of damage.. She was a slow moving Cat 5 hurricane with almost 700 deaths as a result..

    Oh well.. like you… I have wonderful memories and a few photos.. ♥

    Reply to KimH's comment

  10. Melanie in Ca on February 3, 2013 at 11:39 am

    Roses are my most memorable. They aren’t at all my favorite, but were cherished by my mother in law who had 80 different plants! I adored her and as her time with us waned I would fill vases with their fragrant blooms and place them in her room. The smell of roses is a bittersweet reminder of time with her and now that we live in what was her home I still tend twelve of those roses in her memory. They bloom gloriously year after year despite my amateur efforts. I think it’s due to Susy’s no-till and rich compost lessons that I’ve learned.

    Reply to Melanie in Ca's comment

    • Susy on February 3, 2013 at 11:46 am

      WOW – 80 roses, that’s amazing. I read an interesting article once about a rose grower that has great success using compost tea on his roses to fight off all the common rose diseases & issues. I’ll have to do some searching to see if I can find it for you.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  11. Lisa on February 3, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    6 years ago my husband, who knew nothing about flowers or plants bought me a near dead hydrangea. It was a stick in a pot with dried up blooms on it. It was pitiful and I wondered if it would survive. I planted it and hoped for the best. That hydrangea is now 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide and provides me with the most gorgeous blooms every year. We call it our Charlie Brown hydrangea. You just never know!

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  12. amy on February 3, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    My favorites are magnolia, mimosa and lilac…..Their scents…..Magnolia is my first memory of a tree….I believe this is due to the lovely white flower’s perfume….There was a huge mimosa in my grandmother’s yard….I took one of it’s sprouts and brought it to my home….When it blooms I am with my grandmother once again…..Lilacs like the magnolia lived on my childhood home’s lawn as well…..When we were looking to buy a house…ancient lilacs bordered the drive of this…. our “now home”……For me it was a sign:)

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  13. DEb on February 3, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    Never knew there were so many peonies. I have what was here. Lt. pink and a little darker pink. Hy dranges really don’t do much for me but have white ones here that were here when we moved here. They’re on the north side of a building. Glad you have lots of pix. Me I don’t care a lot about flowers, only plants I eat and that doesn’t include a lot of flowers.

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  14. Norma on February 3, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    Coming from a place with very hot Summers my favourites are survivors and Pomegranate tops it! They are unusual,pretty bell shaped flowers, nice fruit to eat and tough. The nurseries here sell a lot of silly small fruiting varieties, but I have an old variety that I take with me to each new home from cuttings and it fruits bigger than a tennis ball.

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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