The Garden-A Creative Expression

Looking east, the garden starts in spring as a stark and barren space.

By June 1st, it is lush and full.

I spent almost 6 hours working in the garden yesterday, mostly weeding and mulching.  After the long hard winter and reluctant spring, the garden is about to explode in her summer glory. Right now, she is in a transition state as the tulips and daffodils are a memory and the iris and peonies are all but gone.

One solitary Lupine, not the easiest plant to grow in our climate.

For me, gardening is a creative expression. My inspiration came from a visit to Claude Monet's Giverny back in 1995. Monet was a master at having the 3 seasons of spring, summer and fall overlap and spill into each other so that there was continuous progression of color and texture throughout the seasons.

Pole beans will climb this trellis while cosmos and other flowers provide the color.

My design technique might be described as eclectic or funky, a mixture of planned spaces and randomness. The garden space seen here in the photos is about 1500 sq. feet, approx. 80 feet long and 15 feet deep. 90% of it has something growing on it. Perennials, lilies, wild flowers, vines, a couple of Japanese willow shrubs. Throughout the summer I will go in and trim and prune back the growth so as to keep some semblance of order to it.

Two row of onions.

Snap peas ready to be picked, then stir-fried.

And although every year is different in the garden, this year has challenged me in a unique way. I am integrating vegetables into what has been primarily a flower garden. For the past 10 years I had been sharing a vegetable garden plot about with a guy I know, but decided to break away and do my veggies here at home. It's been fun finding ways to re-allocate space and squeeze in the vegetables where flowers used to be.

Cherry tomatoes

Husker Red Penstemon

 I love the creative aspect of experimenting with plants, space, color and texture. And when I have days like yesterday where I get totally immersed in the garden, I experience flow and timelessness. Sometimes what starts as just a walk through the garden turns into a series of little creative adventures. And as I like to say, "a Gardener's work is never done".

A row of nasturtiums, ala Monet.

The last iris of this year.

Besides the intrinsic satisfaction that working in the garden provides, there are practical benefits as well. We have a patio that runs along the edge of the garden and the house and is covered by the deck above which creates a wonderful garden room where we can eat breakfast or simply sit and soak in the beauty, butterflies and birds. And our house is always filled with vases filled with vases of flowers that the garden provides. Georgette will walk through the garden with a snipper and gather a handful of flowers and artfully arrange them.Her creativity is evident in the arrangements she puts together.

Zowie zinnias, started indoors from seeds.

So while the garden is relatively quiet today, she will be at her peak of splendor in about a month. And as with every season since I began gardening, there will be some surprises in the garden. That's what makes it so much fun.

Monet also used lots of cosmos.