Gretchen Alexander
"In The Garden"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
The “landscaping” of the house I purchased in 1979 was grass, a maple tree and two conical cedar trees. We immediately stripped sod from the front yard and planted perennials from our former home. My daughters gave me a 3ft magnolia tree our first Mother’s Day in the house. Gradually the grass disappeared. Flowering shrubs replaced the cedars. The maple tree died and opened a lovely sunny area in the garden. When sewer work claimed 20 feet of the front yard, what appeared a disaster actually allowed me to remove the remaining grass in the front yard. I have never looked back.
Each season brings new waves of color and enjoyment. Spring bulbs and Virginia bluebells give way to poppies, coreopsis, and peonies; summer brings cone flowers, salvia, nicotiana, portulaca; August is a blaze of blackeye susans, heleopsis, and sunflowers; fall offers asters, false dragonhead, and mums. Native prairie plants have become the base of the garden for their natural beauty and ability to withstand drought. Vegetables climb on trellises and creep along the ground for neighborhood children to pick. Birdfeeders attract finches, cardinals, orioles, woodpeckers, nuthatches, jays, and an occasional Cooper’s hawk. The magnolia is now over 30 feet tall and just keeps giving year after year.
Strangers and neighbors stop to visit while I work in the garden. All are welcome to pick flowers with the clippers kept in the mailbox. As a child I was often in trouble for picking flowers from other people’s gardens. I promised when I had a garden, everyone could come and gather a bouquet.
“In the garden …” are words from an old hymn, a favorite my father often sang to me as a lullaby. My garden provides connection to generations of gardeners who have gone before; a place for quiet contemplation; release from the stress of my daily life and work; a canvas on which to express my creativity; and an expression of good will and welcome to my neighborhood.
Stop by to smell the flowers and pick a bouquet as well.