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| Pictured above… Amelanchier canadensis just past bloom to the left/ Malus 'Flame' in full bloom/ Fagus sylvatica 'Tricolor'/ Quercus coccinea dominate the view when I sit in the east gardens. |
If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you may recognize the picture shown above, as I posted it the other day. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed sitting in this part of the gardens in the spring and soaking in all the sights, sounds, and fragrances. I decided to search through my photo archives for other views I particularly enjoy from my lawn chair in spring.
I spend more time just sitting and appreciating the gardens in spring than in any other season. I have added a few simple benches here and there and I know the gardens need a great many more but I never quite get around to building them.
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| The former 'cottage garden' which is becoming devoted to conifers more with each passing season |
My solution has been to haul around one of these comfortable old lawn chairs and place them wherever the spirit moves me. If Sarah decides to do a bit of garden sitting as well, we haul two of them about. If friends visit, we haul three or four and so on. If the wind blows from the east, we move to where there is a windbreak on the east. If the sun is warmest in a specific area on a cool spring day, that's where the chairs go. Sometimes I open the barn door and we sit in the gathered sunlight and warmth when it would be too cool to be totally outside.
This is one of my favorite spring garden views, although it has been changing with the maturing of the trees as the old cheese factory becomes less visible. I love all the textures and the freshness created by the combination of the white Malus sargentii and the blue Phlox subulata.
The simple solution of moving lawn chairs about works well for us and we hardly notice unless we get a large tour visiting. Those are the times that I think to myself that I really need to add more garden seating… and I will eventually. For now however, I am still heavily consumed by garden extractions and additions… it's a constant and ongoing process, but I do now get a sense that this will change in the next few years. Is a garden ever completed… I'm starting to think that the answer may well be yes for the most part. I am becoming content with the ways things are starting to look and feel after forty-four years of evolving, revising, reordering, and transmogrifying if you will… I find myself wanting to spend more time appreciating what's been accomplished and less time tearing things apart. I will say there are a few more changes lined up for the future that need to be completed… I guess time will tell whether my imagination runs away with me yet again.
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Prunus avium 'Plena' in spring is pictured above… a lovely blooming tree to sit beneath in spring, this tree is full of rot and sprouting fungi, and yet it goes on. I have warned my children about being careful when using a chain saw on it after I'm gone, as it has numerous steel rods holding it together! It never reallycame into its own until it became decrepit… I wonder if Sarah says that about me! |
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| Adding little 'wild' areas in the gardens is always fun… however, 'wild' doesn't mean weedy… as always the plantings are controlled… here I've used bleeding hearts and mertensia, pictured here somewhat past bloom peak. I recently introduced celandine poppies to the area, in hopes that their bright yellow blooms and silvery foliage will spread about and compliment the mertensia. |
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| It's always fun to park a chair and watch the daffodils bloom! |
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| I really enjoy garden benches of all styles… I fully intended on creating three english garden benches from cedar… one got built and there's a large pile of cedar just waiting for the last two to be started… pictured above in front of the rock garden. |
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| Sitting beneath a flowering crab apple in spring is always a delight… the fragrance is amazing and the sound of hundreds, maybe even thousands of bees at work is as well… pictured here is 'Floribunda' on the left and 'Spring Glory' on the right. |
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| Peonies en masse are not really my thing… however, I enjoy individual plants here and there mixed with other fresh plants in spring… such as hostas… it makes for some good garden sitting. |
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| Occasionally there is a plant so different that it absolutely demands careful observation… such is the case with the Cornus 'Venus' pictured here. This is its first winter at Oak Lawn and I am concerned as it continues to be very cold… I would hate to be deprived of this beauty. |
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| Conifers are beautiful throughout the year, but especially so as they push new growth in spring… a perfect reason for some garden sitting. |
Tulips and magnolias are also very demanding of he who would sit in the garden and soak in its beauty… with that I bid you farewell from the gardens at Oak Lawn Cheese factory. One other note however… some of you in other parts of the world wonder from time to time if we are in spring yet… it just doesn't happen here until at least April. In fact, this week's highs will be in the single digits for several days… I think I'll do my sitting inside for awhile… Larry
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