Of all the things to experience in our new house, my favorite as of yet is seeing the much discussed (by the previous owner quite apologetically I may add) untended garden I inherited begin to sprout up.  Mind you, it has taken some serious clearing, but once I rake and prune and examine; there it is.  Everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  The more I rake, the more I uncover and these beds grow and grow right before my eyes.  Giant shrubs with tiny buds, endless fields of bulbs, prickly roses and sleek pointed leaves that are all beginning to open their eyes and shake off the dust from a very, very long winter.  I would estimate I am halfway done with the massive cleaning that has been in progress since the snow began to melt.  With one stubborn patch of the frozen white stuff still left, wild rose growing out of it like an octopus coming up to the surface, this task is becoming to feel manageable finally.  And soon, this somewhat tamed perrenial garden will dazzle us all season.

The following photos all credited to the sweet little boy pictured above, my Miles Henry.  He went on a camera walk yesterday to take pictures of beautiful things.  While he didn’t capture the same things I would have, his story just tells something different.  For now these photos will suffice and I will be back with some that follow my experience soon.  

My first thoughts in seeing this house and upon viewing the massive garden notes left for prospective buyers, were met with much concern knowing I do love flowers but my heart was set on a vegetable garden.  Knowing that the landscape can be altered when it comes to sinking plants into the earth, I just set aside this concern.  But now that the time is actually here and the vision of deep purple bearded irises, fragrant peonies, lilac and lavender, bundles of andromeda and lupine all around us is truly intoxicating and addicting.  I can’t wait to show up at my friends doorsteps with armfuls of color to hand to them just because my garden is spilling over with beauty to share.  It thrills me to imagine pruning and arranging this massive overgrown beast of a garden.  I feel much like a little girl playing in my mom’s garden constantly asking her to relay the foreign sounding flower names to me, over and over again.

Having this garden makes me feel even closer to her in a way.  My mom uses every free moment of the warm months to either work in her garden or walk through it, with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine in hand depending on the hour, just admiring it and occasionally deadheading a flower here or pulling out some pesky japanese knotweed there.  Passer-byers are awed at the gargantuan towers of exotics and natives all mixed together to create one of the most bold and inspiring gardens around.  Sometimes people make special trips just to see what she is growing.  And now with my fingers in the dirt and legs lined with scratches I am beginning to see the reason she does it; Just to watch things grow.

Happy Earth Day!  Go out and marvel in Mother Earth’s beauty.  It really is something to behold.