A Wowser of a Garden

For me, going away on a trip in the middle of the gardening season is always a hassle. It totally ruins whatever momentum I've built up for gardening projects as well as the rhythm of writing blog posts. I have to suddenly put on the brakes, change gears, pack a bag, sit for however many hours in a crowded, flying tin can and become a social creature for 4 or 5 days, and then once again sit on a flying tin can and come back to what seems like a completely different garden, that has moved on and changed bewilderingly in just those few days. Every year I do it and every year I vow not to do it again.

Almost a month ago I went to visit my son and his girlfriend, and it was a wonderful trip, but I've been struggling to get my gardening and blogging mojo back ever since. Part of my problem with blogging is that once I've stopped, I have a hard time starting again because I feel like I have to go back to where I stopped in time, which was way back at the beginning of May, when I went to the Heronswood Plant Sale. I need to get my head out of this linear thinking that it's stuck in.

So.

I'm just going to jump in and show you something I did recently that excited and wowed me. I visited the garden of Sherri Wilson, which was open as part of the NPA's Open Gardens Program.

Here's what Sherri had to say about her garden in the Program Booklet: "The garden is close to two acres, with many unusual plants in mixed borders. There is also a greenhouse made from vintage windows, a 'tiki hut,' chicken coop, boxwood parterre, pebble mosaic, etc. The veggie beds have been converted to a 'color wheel' cutting garden, with a grain augur fountain in the center."

This is a very modestly and succinctly stated description of a masterful, fabulous, exuberant, plant-loving gardener's garden that made me want to cry for joy and longing.

A circular driveway leads you into the garden and mysteriously shows you very little of it other than several entries to the left in the photo below.

A lineup of pots on the other side of the driveway -- if you peer closely, you can just barely make out the dark shape of my car in center top parked on the grass

I decided to enter beside the tiki hut.

What a great space to explore, a former barn now full of little treasures and vignettes

The other side of the tiki hut once you enter the garden proper

I'm not quite sure what the figure is, but I love it sitting in the middle of this sea of golden Hakone grass

Across a paved area kitty corner from the tiki hut is the greenhouse made of vintage windows, with its winter residents now arrayed outside in all their glory.

Could this spiky devil be Aloe marlothii?

Quercus dentada 'Pinnatifida' living in a pot

Euphorbia trigona?

Oh yes, and the greenhouse where all those plants overwinter? Here's the long view.

Let's peek inside.

Yes, it is.

It's time to look around the garden.

Sneaky Euphorbia flower

Pineapple broom

The house is in there somewhere

I love that primitive skull

This figure waits by the fence near the house

A fern table that Sherri had just put together using gabions from Old Goat Farm just a few days previous

Augur fountain in the center of the raised veggie beds that have been converted to a cutting garden

Tiger swallowtail butterfly stayed still long enough for a capture on my phone camera

A shady path leads into another area of the garden

Schefflera as tall as me in a newly planted bed

The garden contains some wonderful foliage combos and color echoes, as mature plants blend into each other.

Barberry and some kind of threadleaf conifer, I think

The rich red of Cirsium rivulare atropurpurea works well with the Cotinus foliage behind it

Big leaves, small leaves, toothed, thready, coniferous...a glorious mish-mash

Hakone grass and Hosta -- a classic for a reason

A mottled Podophyllum and the red splodge on Persicaria is a great match

I was halfway around Sherri's garden for the first time (I went around twice) when I breathed a heavy sigh -- that combination of longing and appreciation as I wondered if my own garden would ever achieve such a great depth of maturity. Of course it helps that Sherri has nearly two acres to play with. My photos could not do it justice.

Thank you so much, Sherri, for opening your garden to visitors and for taking the time to show me around.

See my blogging buddy Peter The Outlaw Gardener's 2015 post about Sherri's garden here.

See also the great photography of my blogging friend Tatyana's 2015 visit to Sherri's garden here.

In A Vase On Monday (On Tuesday)

I'm a day late with my In A Vase On Monday post. I actually had my arrangement all picked and put together first thing yesterday morning, but then didn't like my photos of it. I usually photograph my arrangements in the kitchen window on Sunday night, but this week in the bright light of Monday morning, in the east-facing kitchen window, it was washed-out. So instead of carrying it all over the house looking for a spot with good lighting, I decided to just wait till evening to take a photo and post today.

I discovered that last week's Dichelostemma congestum flowers were long-lived in the vase, so I picked more for this week's. I liked the look of them dancing with the Pulsatilla seedheads, so I picked more of them too. I was reminded when reading Linda's post that I had a lily already blooming in my garden, so I picked one. Unfortunately, it's a very short lily, so I ended up with an arrangement that looks perhaps a bit quirky, shall we say.

Dichelostemma congestum, Pulsatilla seedheads, and Lily 'Matrix' -- perhaps I should have left my orange dish scrubby in the picture as a prop

Lily 'Matrix'

Here is 'Lily 'Matrix' blooming in the back garden in early morning light. Sorry it's so bleached out. 'Matrix' is one of the lilies that I dug up last fall from a front bed, replanted here and shared extras with readers

Dichelostemma congestum grows very tall and floppy in the garden, perhaps in a bit too much shade. Like an Allium, the foliage starts to die back once it produces a flower

Cathy at Rambling in the Garden is the host of In A Vase on Monday, you should check out her post here, and see all the posts from other garden bloggers who participate.

My New Manicure

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

"I broke a nail!"

I bet like me you don't spend much time, especially at this busy gardening time of the year, on your fingernails. In fact, I've never bothered with a professional manicure in my life. Even though I wear disposable nitrile gloves, my nails are still a mess.

But I figure there's no reason I can't give one of my pots some fabulous nail art.

A few weeks ago I called Nigel out into the garden to give me a hand lifting a large pot onto a set of my favorite pot feet. They look kind of like lion's paws, with big claws. They're just simple pot feet made from terra cotta, but Nigel got to talking and suggested they might look good with some color on them. The big pot that they support sits in front along with my big display of talavera pots. I don't remember who came up with the idea that the pot feet would look good with nail art, it might have been me, it might have been him.

Fortunately I know someone with an artistic, creative daughter who's into nail art -- my friend Camille! I emailed her to see if her daughter Marian would be willing to take a stab at it, and she said yes! So I delivered the pot feet to her just a few days ago and --

Voila!

Aren't they cool? Each nail is unique

I gave her some acrylic craft paint for painting terra cotta in colors that match the talavera pots and told her she had free rein.

I love them. I'm so lucky to know someone with artistic talent who can follow through on my wild ideas. I also thought it was important that Marian know that her talent is valuable, so I paid her for her work.

Camille sent me a couple of photos of Marian, painting the pot feet, and with an exhibit from her school where some of her art was displayed.

Marian on the right and Camille's middle daughter Louisa on the left, also engaged in an art project

The tree of life on the left and the koi on the upper right are Marian's work (The tree of life was a Mother's Day project that was chosen for display at the state fair). The picture just to the left of Marian, showing a kitty-kat yin-yang, is also her work.

Here's an example of Marian's nail art on a human hand -- not mine, however, because I would ruin it

Now I need to find more things Marian can paint!

In A Vase on Monday

I'm back to this meme after a break from what was beginning to feel like a frustrating chore, rather than a delight. My arrangements never look the way I envision them in my head, I always end up with a messy counter covered in water, bugs and off-cuts from stems, with water splashed on my clothes somewhere uncomfortable. I always try 5 different vases before settling on the same one I always use and I often cut something I don't use (Alliums actually ended up in the compost bin this week). And my garden still doesn't have the abundance of blooms that would allow me to create a really big, blowsy arrangement.

I know -- yes, I'd like some cheese with my whine.

For today's vase I picked every Gladiolus byzantinus that was flowering in my cutting garden. The flowers had already started fading from the bottom up and I didn't want them to go over before I had a chance to use them.

Gladiolus byzantinus, Dichelostemma congestum and Pulsatilla seedheads

I got sick of trying to arrange them so that they were facing in directions I liked, and finally just gave the vase a vigorous shake accompanied by an expletive and set it on the counter by the sink.

Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts In A Vase On Monday. Check out her post here.