Archive for the ‘Gardens’ Category

Spring

February 28, 2010

Beneath a pelmeted bower of rose garlands in

a French chateau, I could dream a Sunday morning away…

But here in Northern California, two days of sun are forecast…

and I must wrestle myself from imagining my rosy bed

and set about setting the garden straight …

My absolute favorite way to spend the day…

The espaliered apples and pears are beginning to bloom,

the cherries setting small buds along their branches.

Muscari runs in rampant drifts headlong into the

babytears and nepata.  Self-seeded foxgloves

have made themselves at home artfully over the winter,

growing voluminous leafy skirts while it rained and rained.

This is what I wait for…from when the last plump

Bourbon rose is plucked, sometimes as late as December,

until the eternal rains finally start to abate. However briefly.

I have two days to step carefully into my damp garden,

stooping to pull and clear, everywhere looking

for signs of Spring…

1)The French Country House Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery, Photography Bernard Touillon

2) Appley Hoare Antiques

3) 19th century Cigar case cover Ruby Lane Antiques

4) Antique Bourbon rose from my garden Honorine de Brabant

Romancing the Stone

February 4, 2010

I found this austere lion’s head in a stone yard

more than a decade ago, had the trough made from

cinder block, cement, and stucco a few years later…

Every year it yields further to winter’s mossy embrace

Might make a buttermilk and moss cocktail to help

that right corner along…

The gold fish…

Are great companions…

We added many stone retaining walls

to wrestle the most use out of our yard…

Necessity, the mother of invention,

adding character in the landscape…

Cast stone capital…

has followed me around for over 20 years…

The overturned garden cloche winters inside

to force narcissus over pebbles

First offerings from the garden…

muscari, violets, narcissus

Garden steps growing their own winter garden…

Happy New Year

December 31, 2009

To my dear readers…

Best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a bit. I have weeds to pull, new lavender to plant,

the last few bulbs to get into the garden beds. It’s been a wonderful 8 months of imagining,

of sharing my favorite clippings and photos from my idea files and favorite design books.

I’ll be back after finishing a few DIY design and home improvement projects, orchestrating

the emergence of  “Garden 2010″, and hiking and running a few hundred miles on my

favorite set of hills nearby. I’m returning my treasured set of old design magazines and

design books back to the shelves (and in bins under my bed!), from where they had

precipitously tilted  in various stacks about my office, but am glad I was able to share

many beautiful forgotten images with you. I’ve tried to organize my blog so that you

can readily view old posts in the side bar (click snapshots by month or on favorites).

There is a winter to get through before my garden will bloom again.

Rain and mud and frost. But the colder the days get, the better the

Peonies will be. I’d like to think that’s a metaphor for life.

I believe in beauty and will back to share it.

Happy New Year wonderful readers. Keep warm, keep weeding, keep improving.

Your life is your own design.

XO Trish