Abandon all hope ? I shall steal trees.

-
Dear reader,



It has been some time since I posted anything garden related. I have a small garden and I have come to realise that you may get fed up of me going on about it and taking pics of it. But even a small space can be dynamic, constantly changing and surprising me. Perhaps it is short term memory, but I'm sure the garden shifts when I'm not looking.

I have been preoccupied with starting a MA and it has required a great deal of effort to keep up with the younger minds. I almost abandoned hope and thought I had made a big mistake, but then I realised that creativity is in our genes and I cannot unsee the things that lift my spirit, and in that respect having a garden is such a blessing. Perhaps the word blessing is an old fashioned word but it does describe how having a garden feels to me - despite the disappointments and losses and mistakes that I make - it continues to surprise.

I love trees and love being surrounded by them. My neighbours keep telling me to cut them down, and indeed the large conifers at the end of the garden are being taken down by my neighbour next year as they are on his side of the boundary. This will change the feel of the space again - and will bring a lot more direct sun into the space which will in turn change the way the plants grow, some will benefit - others might struggle, but that is what creates the dynamism.



Life is in a constant state of flux.

What I love now at this point in late Autumn is the thinning of the leaves and the stealing of landscape surrounding the house. I metaphorically steal the the trees in the park and the small woodland and bring them in to my garden - they become an integral part of its 'feel'.




Talking of dynamism I accidentally took the following image of the beech hedge - I love it !




Creative possibilities are everywhere.

Paul.


Comments

  1. Diana Studer21 November 2018 at 11:37

    Ah borrowed scenery! It is strange how people hate trees. All those messy leaves.
    I abandoned a Which Tree Shall I Plant discussion yesterday, when she asked for neat.
    No, thank you.
    Congratulations on the MA. Interesting to follow your journey, with a Bulgarian woman who has started a Ph D around languages.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pity the cabbage white

-
Image
Dear Monty, Having seen you protect your newly planted cabbages from cabbage white butterflies - it made me realise that I haven't seen many this year. Despite warmth yesterday - a brief interlude with blue sky and a light wind there was a dearth of butterflies in the coal tip garden. There were honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, hover flies, a gangly legged wasp, one hedge brown, one speckled wood and a common blue - that is all. Oh and a frog sheltering in the shady hosta and a silent peregrine falcon swooping overhead. What has happened to all the insects ? What has happened to all the aphids this year ? Is it just me that is missing them ? I have seen no ladybirds or ladybird larvae - because there have been so few aphids - was it the birds that have snaffled them ? I worry about the lack of insect numbers. We walked through a wild meadow full of meadow cranesbill and meadowsweet with the purple haze of knapweed in the grasses and yet there were one or two meadow br...
Read more

Letter to Monty Don 48

-
Image
Dear Monty, I know that despite these rambles being addressed to you, they never reach your eyes or heart, but this question is most certainly directed to you : Can nature be ugly ? I am pondering this question sitting in my cupboard of a 'studio' where I am putting the finishing touches to paintings of  British native orchids, pollinators and butterflies for an exhibition next weekend. Now I believe that you understand perfectly well the response you may get when you make statements on GW - including the one about spent buddleja flowers being 'ugly'. I too have always deadheaded my buddleja for the same reason, and as you said to promote new flower spikes. But this ugliness is an intrinsic part of nature - it sets seed to create the next generation, the flowers last but for a few days. Is this ugliness a kind of acknowledgement of the frailty of 'beauty' .... and the cutting off and tidying away a kind of denial ? ( Perhaps I think too much.) I ...
Read more

Monty, where does the road take us ?

-
Image
Monty, I see you have returned to France. Your film reminded me of my visits to Paris as an art student between 1981-83. It is a city that cannot fail to make an impression with its wide open streets, avenues of trees, the river and public gardens. I particularly remember Versailles with its long canal. At that time I was not aware of having a particular interest in gardens, but the gardens at Versailles were astonishing. I saw them in early morning light, when there were not that many people there. I also remember being intrigued by the garden at the Musee Rodin. Strangely for an art student, it was not the sculpture that caught my attention but the garden with pyramid shaped topiary. Perhaps what I was responding to was the sense of order, balance and harmony. It almost feels as though I was meant to visit, and that the encounters I had which were sensually intense, were pre-ordained. There is one incident, which has great significance only to me perhaps, but which was of ...
Read more