Here in the midst of my painting/drawing projects, I'm also working on my garden. This is actually the first summer in four years that I've been able to pay much attention to it since I have been determined to stay untethered by big deadlines this year! What a relief!
Artists and gardens... well, you know we pair well.
But, oh, has my garden changed! Here it is in its sort of English garden phase, ten or so years ago, before I decided no more chemicals for a green lawn in MY garden.
There were intermediary stages, but let's jump to THIS 2010 total redo. Click on the link to see how drastic the changes were. I ripped out lots of bad design and indecision, too frillyness and not Me-ness, and got these bare bones:
One short year after that, the garden was cooking!, with, among other changes, new stone pathways instead of those mulch ones. Hard to believe this is only a year later! I was ripping and roaring! I based my new visions on some exquisite gardens I'd seen in Normandy and I also drew upon childhood memories of formal gardens all over France.
In the past six years, I've tweaked and tweaked the garden and it has, all on its own, matured (haven't we all? * a hem*) I've figured out, through insane amounts of trial and error, what will actually grow here! Imagine that!
And so here we are today, or anyway, recently. I feel I've finally got the look I want, flowers when there are my favorites blooming, but not too many.
Textures galore, just as I like in my paintings and drawings. And look how those boxwoods have grown!
Serenity... more and more necessary for me as the world gets the opposite.
I travel to numinous places, it is true. Here at home, in my garden, I've made a place, built from memories and inspiration, that is meaningful to me.
Kathi, thank you so much! Happy to see you here!
Posted by: Laura | June 21, 2016 at 07:20 AM
Suma, that's a huge shift for a gardener! Good luck with that and good luck with all of your wonderful art endeavors!
Posted by: Laura | June 21, 2016 at 07:19 AM
Love watching your garden evolve, Laura! Now that I've moved from CT to CA, I'm relearning everything -- what grows/flowers in this zone, how much water things need, etc.
Posted by: Suma CM | June 21, 2016 at 12:09 AM
Beautiful transformations--- love the textures and hardscaping!!
Posted by: kathi | June 17, 2016 at 03:53 PM
Thank you, dear Kate. YES, it was amazing to me to go back and see how it's changed! And there were lots more photos to show this process, but I had to choose just a few representative ones, of course. So wish you could be here!
Posted by: Laura | June 14, 2016 at 06:42 AM
Cathy, what a small world! And, yes, you DO, have a friend who lives here! Big hugs to you and thank you for the compliments about my garden. It gets taken care of, yes, but sometimes more than others ;D.
Posted by: Laura | June 14, 2016 at 06:40 AM