What happens to a garden in the absence of its creator depends a good deal on the person or people who are left with its care. If they are non-gardeners—and yes, though it’s hard to remember, there are lots of people out there for whom gardening is not a consuming passion—they may think of buying the house, rather than the landscape, with the idea of turning the garden back to grass as soon as possible.
Category: Ruminations
Death Becomes Them
Misspelled words are usually either annoying or embarrassing, depending on whether you’re reading them or creating them. But every once in a while, they inspire a whole new line of thought. When I recently ran across “necrofilia” (never mind where, but really, it was nothing horrible), I read it as “necrofolia,” and suddenly, there was the perfect term for an entire horticultural subculture.
It’s Personal – Part 2
A few weeks ago, in It’s Personal – Part 1, I started talking about some of the ways I’ve tackled the development of the gardens here at Hayefield, in response to some readers’ questions. I ended that part by mentioning that I have a group of plants that I rely on for filling new gardens. Here are some of my favorites, along with a few more thoughts about planting and maintenance and some more pictures of how the gardens have evolved over the last decade.