I've been pondering for some time the amount of time it takes to maintain all the gardens at Chez Buffy. In particular, the herb garden has been on my mind. I've worried that I should consider closing it down because it's a good sized drain on my summer hours.
My youngest sister came to visit for two days and joined me in the gardens on Friday morning. I had several chores that needed my attention and the purpose of her visit, in part, was to give me a hand. It was also a chance for us to chat and catch up before the school year claims all her time.
I was fretting about the fact that she makes greater use of her herb garden. It's smaller, and less formal, but very functional. She asked me what I got out of the garden. Did I feel the only purpose of the garden was to give us herbs for our summer cooking?
Of course, she was right. When I'm at my kitchen sink, it's a joy to look out over the garden, and see the plants that I have been tending. We look at the contrasts of texture and color, and watch as each of the plants comes into it's season, spreading out and filling up it's spot.
I use some of the herbs, and grow others because of their scent or their shape or color. Right now I have two small purple basil plants in the front corner of the basil bed. I probably won't use that basil in a pesto, but I love the contrast in color and size to the sweet basil behind it.
Some plants are old friends, coming back year after year. Others are newcomers which might remain for a season. Every now and then I slip in flowers like petunias or coreopsis or gallardia. This year there are two miniature pear-shaped tomatoes and a cherry tomato. For the past three years one corner of the garden has been filled with lemon scented herbs.
I've taken a series of pictures of the herb garden from the same window......a winter scene with the raised beds covered in snow, looking rather like moguls on a ski run, and a March picture that shows the structure of the bed before most of the plants have woken up. The May picture shows lush green mounds, the garden at it's most beautiful. June shows the yarrow in bloom, with flat plates of gold, backed up by the purple clematis climbing the arbor. In July, the garden is mature, the coneflower in bloom at the back, the garlic chives sending up bloom stalks. And as we get to August, things start to loose their freshness to the constant heat of summer.
Obviously, I love the garden. Perhaps it's productivity is not the question. Perhaps the hours it takes to maintain it can be justified simply by the joy it brings. Whatever the reason, I think it's safe for one more year.
Comments (7)
Your gardens are beautiful to behold; but, if I had to maintain them, they would be history--lol.
Posted by Cop Car | August 7, 2005 10:26 PM
Posted on August 7, 2005 22:26
Gardens don't have to be functional (just ask my veggie garden this year - it certainly isn't), they just have to create joy or harmony.
Posted by bogie | August 8, 2005 4:16 AM
Posted on August 8, 2005 04:16
Kman and I (well, he is the greener thumb) love our backyard flower garden. We have several different beds and two levels and a multitude of plants. We are curious about anything new, and hence we have one of a lot of stuff; one pomegranate bush, one Texas hibiscus, one bottle-brush, one desert willow, etc...
My herb garden started last summer on the side of the house in a very narrow bed that was not easy to tend to nor easy to see. I planted chocolate mint, lemon balm, basil, oregano, pineapple sage and rosemary. This spring I did not do my gardenly duty and the chocolate mint has become the Mint That Ate Cowtown. It is everywhere in the bed, huge mounds. Only the rosemary and the pineapple sage has escaped the creeping attack of the mint.
Posted by Cowtown Pattie | August 8, 2005 10:27 PM
Posted on August 8, 2005 22:27
See.....that's the problem! (laughing) I'm firmly on the fence between the two of you! Some days I lean one way, and the next, the other.
I need the serenity of a well tended garden, but I don't need the work load in the overwhelming heat. I need to find a happy medium, and a couple of cute teen agers to do some of the heavy work! *G*
Posted by buffy | August 8, 2005 10:29 PM
Posted on August 8, 2005 22:29
Pattie, the chocolate mint, the lemon balm, and the oregano are all invasive plants. I'm astounded that the rosemary is holding it's own, but I doubt it can last long against those odds. The basil is an annual, so I'm not surprised that it's gone missing.
Put the basil in with your flowers next year, or corral the mint. You can grow it in a container, or sink dividers deep into the ground to keep it from spreading.
I have the same interest in trying new plants, but my Mother taught me to plant things in threes, or at least, in odd numbers. I know, one is an odd number, but I think she'd be shaking her finger at you! lol On the other hand....specimin plants are cool, too.
Happy gardening!
Posted by buffy | August 8, 2005 10:37 PM
Posted on August 8, 2005 22:37
What we need, Buffy, is to be wealthy enough to hire our gardening done so that all we need do is sit on the patio with iced tea in hand. It is hard to tell by looking, but I put in my 1.5 hours, this morning. Weeds and grass [our fescue invades my planted beds, terribly...and I've neglected one of the foundation planting beds in front of the house (the one farther from the driveway where no one really sees it) so badly that the front 1/2 of the bed is grass (and nutsedge and dadelions)] are faster moving than am I.
Since the surprise lillies (naked ladies--descendents of some that my mother gave me in the late 1970s) are planted next to the house, behind the heavenly bamboo nandina and China girl holly, in that "farther away" planting bed, I nearly missed their blooming this year. They are spent, now. I should find a better place for them.
Posted by Cop Car | August 9, 2005 11:44 AM
Posted on August 9, 2005 11:44
Cop Car, I actually like dabbling in the gardens. I love designing, even though some of my gardens are desperate for improvement. I'd like to have a live-in gardener to do the heavy work, so that I could go out and play.
We're having some dead elms cut out this week, and I was thinking that we should plant shrubs there as a lead-in to the grove. AND, we have to remove that gorgeous viburnum at the center front of the house. First, it's overgrown that spot and is covering the entire front of the house, and second, it happens to be the raccoon highway. I'd like to replace it with a weeping Japanese cherry and azaleas under Mother's windows. I just about have it planned.....but I sure could use a hunk to come do the heavy work!
I know what you mean about the surprise lilies. We have a sign that says "I don't remember planting THAT there!"
Posted by buffy | August 9, 2005 4:02 PM
Posted on August 9, 2005 16:02