Glittering Trees and Other Joys

When I came outside the other day, long sun rays were slanting across the garden, and Japanese maples, dogwoods and other trees were glittering in the light. Burgundy, rose, orange, lime green and gold sparkles shot through the leaves and shone around their edges. My camera could not truly portray the beauty of the light coming through the trees.As I watched, nearly a dozen different types of birds were calling and playing about the trees, and a fresh breeze brought aromas of damp earth, fresh pine straw and some delicious flower. Was it jasmine or rose or dianthus?

I breathed in and absorbed the moment, and then I had a thought. I was the only person in the whole wide world who was experiencing this particular scene. From my perspective, at that time, looking across my front garden. Oh, there were many special events going on around the earth, and lots of them were far more spectacular and significant to those who were experiencing them. But this particular moment in time and place was mine alone, a gift just for me.

Once again I was reminded that to experience life at its fullest one must take it in little bits, savoring the small joys that each day offers, whether it be the beauty of a plant or the smile of a child, the satisfaction of a job well done or the lift of the heart that doing a kind deed brings. 

Here are more recent scenes around the garden that made me smile:In the top photo, day lily foliage grows in front of a birdhouse. The perspective is deceiving. Between the rose and the day lilies there is a stairway that goes down to the arbor garden. The rose is Coral Drift. The hanging basket on the lower right contains Calibrachoa 'Dreamsicle'.

Clockwise from above top: 'Whitewater' weeping redbud foliage is spectacular as it matures. The leaves start out golden green, then gradually acquire more variegation; Persian Shield; Rue; Variegated Solomon's Seal; Dusty Miller.

Clockwise from top left:Rosa rugosa 'Alba'; Unknown passalong iris; Another passalong iris - all of my irises came from friends; Spirea 'Anthony Waterer'; Flowers above potato foliage; Romantica rose 'Orchid Romance'.True rosarians often turn their noses up at Knock Outs. Not me! (But then, I don't claim to be a rosarian!) Knock Outs are fantastic, easy-care landscape roses, and who could not love the 'Pink' Knock Out roses below?

Last week I put together a small succulent garden in a hypertufa container:

Finally, here is a dramatic look into the woodland garden as late afternoon light comes pouring through:

May your week be filled with glittering trees and other joys!    Deb

Stone Stairway to the Woodland Garden

I have a new entrance to the woodland garden. I am thrilled about this, as I have dreamed of it for years. The older, main entrance is quite a way from the house. One walks down the road and enters from the lower part of the front lawn. You can see this entrance in a recent photo from within the woodland garden. Look past the birdhouse, and you can see the path that leads from the lawn:Summer in the woodland garden

While I usually used the main entrance when touring folks around the garden, there was another way into the woodland garden. It was directly across from the house and was much handier, but it also involved walking down a steep slope on precarious homemade steps and tree roots. Earlier this year Lou watched as I maneuvered my way down the hill, and then he announced it was time for me to have a proper stairway. I think he was worrying about my arthritic hip.

Hooray!

Here is what the top end of the woodland garden looked like:If you squint, you may see one of my homemade steps in the distance.

Here is the same view, with a portion of my recently completed stairway visible in the background:A distant view of the new woodland stairway

I had to wait a few months for Paul, the stone guy, to get to my project. He finally showed up the very morning I was scheduled to have my hip replaced, about thirty minutes before I was to leave for the hospital! After all that waiting, I could not believe the day he chose to come. (It happened that I had talked to him a few weeks before, and there was a miscommunication about dates.) I asked Paul to wait until I was at home and on the road to recovery. He was very understanding and agreed to come back at a later date.

The wait was worth it. Here is a closer view of the new stone stairway:The rustic stone stairway is a perfect entrance to the woodland garden.

You can see that the stairway includes some planting beds along the sides. Frustration! I am three weeks into my recovery and in no shape to be planting anything. However, my friend Janet came over and kindly moved potted plants from various areas of my garden to give the stairway a more completed look. I have often used potted plants for instant gratification whenever I needed something in a particular spot, but for whatever reason was unable to plant it directly in the ground.

Here are some closer views of the potted plants I used:

Top: Variegated ivy; Stromanthe tricolor. Middle: Two types of plectranthus; Variegated plectranthus is in the green pot on the right. Bottom: Birds Nest Fern and Voodoo plant are on the left; Asparagus fern is on the right. At the top of the woodland stairway is a pot with Chamaecyparis 'Blue Boulevard'.

I had better get well in a hurry, so that I can keep the woodland garden worthy of its new entrance. If you have followed my blog for long, you may recognize the following scenes, but I thought you might like to see the views as one comes down the new steps.

Clockwise are shots taken from the stairway directly ahead, to the right, and to the left:

My physical therapist was right when he said my garden was its own therapy session. That is especially true now that I have a stairway to practice on, though very carefully!