Personal Plots

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. -Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

It’s gloomy. Winter is not my friend. I am a fair weather person. Looking out at the gardens from my frost covered windows this morning only to see frost on plants, containers and the beloved garden statuary makes me inconsolable. Well, that’s a little much, it just makes me long for all things warm, so I guess I am a bit inconsolable.

It is late March winter seems to prevails. Winter is humbling and last nights arctic blast not only made history throughout the Northeast, but for a gardener in the north it was the end.

My personal plots are what I like to call my front and back gardens. All created from trial and lots of error in a soil that is as rich in mystery and a little history as it is in nutrients.

About 21 years ago I started this ritual with my grandmother when I purchased my home. It was Easter Sunday and she was up for a ride; “down da shore,” (she had a very thick Italian accent) so we packed the car, packed some perennials and set our sites for Wildwood NJ. Never studying horticulture I learned to garden from my mom, from my grandmother, from reading, traveling and just going with what I liked – whether it was going to work was a completely different story. At 40 something (then), it was my first real time as a gardener since childhood. I was determined to create the prettiest gardens on the block and with that, it was my hope that neighbors would enjoy the view and want to create one of their own. They did! Mind you, I have no desire to start a landscaping company – I leave that to the real professionals.