Quote of the Day: David Culp
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
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?
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Quote of the Day: David Culp
“I need to add that patience is truly a virtue, because time is one of a gardener’s greatest allies. With the passage of time, plants grow and our instincts and abilities as gardeners mature and improve. Nothing happens in an instant in the garden; beautiful moments always unfold on their own schedule, in their own sweet time. We may savor the sweetness and remember it for the rest of our lives. But for anyone who loves gardens, it also helps to love being a gardener, since it is only the continuum of the day-to-day work that makes those moments possible”
David Culp in The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage
Lately, Mr Chiots and I have been talking a lot about patience when it comes to gardening. It’s especially important when you have a new and exciting space and lots of ideas. We know we want to put in a small orchard here, with pears, apples, plums and maybe a few other types of fruit. Eventually, there will be long hedgerows filled with native and beneficial species. There will be a pond for the ducks and a greenhouse for the winter.
Mr Chiots and I are, by nature, jump in with both feet kind of people. Hard work doesn’t scare us and neither does failure. While that is often a very good trait, it needs to be tempered with patience in some situations, this is one of those cases. Through much deliberation, we decided to wait at least a year to embark on any major garden plantings and changes.
We’ll spend this next year watching the gardens unfold, noting varieties of plants, the movement of the sun, the flow of the water. Care will be taken in improving and remineralizing the soil in the areas we think the orchard might fit. Being patient will benefit us in the long run, our trees will grow faster and stronger if we take time to choose the perfect spot, the right varieties and work diligently at improving the soil.
Have you learned patience through gardening?
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Quote of the Day: E.B. White
“Although winter is still in possession of the land, the days are perceptibly longer. Skating on the frog pond under an early rising moon, I am conscious of the promise of pollywogs under my runners, and my thoughts turn to seeds and the germinal prospect. Snow, which came with a bang at Thanksgiving, is an old story to the little boy now; winter’s charms fade slowly out like the picture of Charlie McCarthy on the back of his sweatshirt. Sear’s Roebuck’s midwinter catalog is shelved in favor of seed catalogs.”
-E.B White – from January 1939 in One Man’s Meat
It’s so true how the seasons are exciting when they are fresh and new, then their newness fades and is soon replaced by excitement for the season to come. While I love winter and have not grown weary of it’s beauty, I’m certainly starting to shift my focus to spring. My gardens are starting to come together in my mind, where I will plant trees and hedges.
It can be hard at times to sit back and truly enjoy this moment in time, it seems as humans we are constantly focused on what lay ahead the possibilities that await. There’s still a lot of winter left and I must restrain my excitement for spring lest it ruin the rest of my peaceful winter!
Are you finding the charm of the current season fading?
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Quote of the Day: Carol Deppe
“One of the most joyous things we can do is to find our place, the land we fit into, the land where we belong. Having found our place, we snuggle into it, learn about it, adapt to it, and accept it fully. We love and honor it. We rejoice in it. We cherish it. We become native to the land of our living.”
Carol Deppe (The Resilient Gardener)
I was thinking about the quote the other day as Mr Chiots and I were doing something outside. We have pretty much settled into this new place. It’s starting to feel like home, more of that will come with some painting and a few other projects.
We are firmly planting ourselves into this new landscape and community. Every Monday afternoon we head down to our neighbor’s for coffee. A New Year’s party was hosted at our home. Another neighbor came for Christmas dinner. We’ve been curling, gone to farm party’s, visited farms, talked to people and have made many new friends. Maine suits us perfectly, I certainly hope the feeling is mutual because we’re here to stay.
How many different places have you become native to?
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Quote of the Day: Pema Chödrön
“We think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the point of view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self-contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air…
To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest….
When we wake up, we can live fully without seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, without re-creating ourselves when we fall apart… We can give up on being perfect and experience each moment to its fullest.”
Pema Chödrön from When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Experiencing each moment to it’s fullest is something Mr Chiots and I try to do. It’s easy in good times and difficult in tough times. Embracing the tough times truly does make them easier and helps you see them for the learning and growth that they provide! Living well is all about experiencing everything that comes our way, whether good or bad!
Do you try to avoid difficult situations or do you experience them for what they bring to your life?
