Friday, February 20, 2015

The Gardens I Left Behind / Let's Think Summer!

When we moved to Philadelphia, I left behind gardens.  And thirty-five years worth of good friends.

We lived in our 300-year-old house in Massachusetts for fifteen years.  The town was growing too quickly and the atmosphere was changing.  I was tired of having to drive everywhere and felt isolated.  I was craving city life again, but we chose to move to Philadelphia rather than back to Boston.  I felt that I was missing too many family events, big and little, because family was four to eight hours away by car.  So we moved.

These are the gardens I left behind.  I miss them now.  I was so spoiled.  Now, I have a few potted plants on a tiny patio, no room to experiment or for the big clumps of flowers I like.  We've been in the city for almost ten years and I'm craving the country.  This has been our pattern:  ten years in the city, ten in the country.  But if I mention moving, Jack cringes and edges away.

By the way, if anyone recognizes the plant / flower in the first photograph, please let me know.  I was very good about labeling and taking notes, but I just can't place this one.  It's one of my favorite blues.  Anchusa?  Salvia?






























8 comments:

  1. What beautiful gardens you had! I'd miss them very much too! I don't recognize the flowers in your first photo. They are pretty thought. I love the intense blue. I hope you are able to have a garden again sometime!

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    1. Thank you, Stefanie. I worked hard on the gardens for almost fifteen years. I loved to order unusual plants just to see if I could grow them. I was very proud of the Himalayan blue poppy, but it only lasted one season. I hope I have another garden someday, too.

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  2. Gorgeous, I hope my lupins which I started off from seed last year will grow as well as yours. You had exactly the sort of paths which I want to make this year and I love your wooden fencing in the last photo. Unfortunately I don't know what the blue flowers are called either. At least you have great photos and memories of your old garden.

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    1. Aren't they lovely? As you can see, I'm especially fond of blue, white, and yellow combined. I almost never grew anything from seed. I'm not that skilled. If I ever sit down and really go through all my garden notes and photos, maybe I'll be able to identify that blue flower. Or maybe the Horticultural Society can help. I do miss my gardens.

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  3. I often wonder whether the legacy of the European cultural notion of non-attachment to the land hasn't done much more damage than we ever realize.

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    1. I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean that people take better care of the land if they have a vested financial / emotional / cultural interest in it? If they're not attached to the land, they care less about it's continued health?

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  4. Joan, your home there in MA is beautiful! I think that flower is a larkspur.

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    1. Peggy, in many ways, it does look like larkspur, but it's much shorter and the flowers don't have that sharp, pointy tail that larkspur does. I also think the leaves are different. It's hard to tell in the photo. If it bothers me enough, I root through my garden notebooks (all of which I saved, just couldn't bear to leave the gardens behind) to see if I can find mention of it.

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