Just a Moment...

I have too much to do. Well, don't we all. Too much to do in fits and starts. Too much multi-tasking, too many short attention span opportunities, too many emails, texts, phone calls, questions about too many diverse subjects. When November comes, I'll be free again. I can't wait for those long short days full of transplanting, weeding, pruning: you know, the totally boring, plodding, "alone with your thoughts" hours. My old brain craves that quiet country life pace.

In the meantime, I have been working on some talks I will give soon, and thought I would share a bit of the subject that fits our too hurried modern lifestyles: Garden Moments.

 
What I mean by that term is a small glimpse in a garden; one that might be at an entryway, a bend in the garden path, a specimen highlight.It can be just a plant or two; just a small feature that works to catch those wandering attentions and make a memorable statement. These few pictures are good examples. You can use anything.....container combinations, or the containers themselves; plants combined with art or architecture, or the art or plants themselves. You can create a mood with outstanding and exciting plants, or mellow out with cool, gentle or even formal plantings.

Remember, it is only a glimpse. This is not the place where the Landscape Architect gestures with waving arms about wide sweeps of azaleas or swales of impatiens. This is a little design idea good for those days when you just can't hold much more in your brain, but can be very satisfied with a tiny little personal touch of the gardener in you. And your garden can be very satisfied, too. Maybe we could even say that it could be a garden smile.

Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile.  ~Paul Simon, "Only Living Boy in New York"