Design

My first garden visit was close to my lodging (perfect for an arrival day visit!) Nymans, a National Trust garden, is an 'estate' garden founded by a wealthy family who were also keen plant collectors. Nyman's not really a garden for planting 'ideas,' but one to enjoy walking in, and to see the viewscapes, landscapes, and historic plantings. There were lots of visitors today -- mostly 'older' British folks, I think, although I did chat with a 'younger' American who'd lived in Britain for almost 19 years, working for US-based airline companies. There's an interesting assortment of very old and impressive trees, lots of rhododendrons and azaleas in flower this time of year, coming from all sorts of places in Asia and the Southeastern U.S. To me, the rhododendrons and azaleas are quite familiar, since we have our natives and the Asian species flourish as well, but they're particularly happy in the buffered climate of Southern England as t...

We're fortunate to have a welcoming and peaceful garden, with lots of space. It suits us well. We've tried to re-create the sense of nature -- of 'being in the woods' -- from our part of the world, the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The yard definitely wasn't lovely when we started, being nothing much more than a vast expanse of lawn punctuated by a few large trees, so we have the satisfaction of having nurtured it ourselves. The journey of becoming gardeners as well as botanists (there is a distinct difference between botanists, horticulturists, and gardeners, for sure) and taking pleasure in the rapid growth of many plants is continuing, as we worry about this year's drought and drag the hoses around. Our garden is largely a native one, but still is suffering from the lack of rain, especially some species. The Joe-Pye that I love because of its attractiveness to butterflies is more than sadly droopy in the afternoon heat, in spite of all the extra...