New Year’s resolutions
I was pleased to notice that Annie in Austin was one of several local gardeners interviewed by the Austin American-Statesman for an article today on gardening resolutions. She resolved, “In 2007, I’ll try to spend as much time actually working in the garden as I spend photographing it and garden blogging about it!”
Well, Annie, that’s all well and good, but I hope you don’t cut back on your blogging time to do so. I sure enjoy your insightful, witty posts and your frequent, encouraging comments all over the blogosphere and especially here at Digging.
Another interviewee was Deborah Hornickle, whose formal rear garden—remember the pear allee, the lemon tree, and the trellised dining area draped with sky vine?—drew admiring crowds at Austin’s Open Days Tour last October. Her resolution? “Next year will see big changes in my own yard, as I am planning a house addition that will invade a large portion of the rear garden. I have my fingers crossed that this garden I love so dearly will find a way to coexist with my new living space in an aesthetically pleasing way.”
Deborah, after seeing your gorgeous and creative garden, I am confident that you’ll create a wonderful new garden once the dust has settled on your remodel. I look forward to seeing it when it appears on the next Open Days tour.
I’m not one for making resolutions (my track record on keeping them is woefully unimpressive), but since everyone else is doing it, why not? In 2007 I would like to enjoy my garden more than I do—actually sit in it and look around and appreciate the beauty to be found there. Usually when I try to do this I see the garden’s flaws and weeds and find myself popping out of my chair to find the pruners or shovel. So, I hereby resolve to find more peace in my garden and fewer chores.
Ha!
Happy New Year!
Ha is right!
The eye of a perfectionist can be a cruel task master. I have found that exhaustion is the best way to put a soft focus on your surroundings temporarily. Sunset after a long day of chores seems to be best.
A more permanent ability to sit and enjoy your own garden as an activity unto itself may take thirty years or more to accomplish.
Love the “Nourishment for my Soul” print.
Hello Pam, we got back from Illinois in time to say Happy New Year!
My husband laughed when he saw that resolution in the paper – but even if I do cut down my garden blog time, reading yours and that of MSS will be a priority.
Your gardens, both front and back, seem so established [and so well-designed] at this point, Pam, and you’ve used waterwise, tough natives. Isn’t it kind of your civic duty to prove that following those principles has made it possible for you to have time to sit and enjoy your garden? You must relax, in order to convince other people that native is the way to go!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Thanks for the compliment, Annie. As you pointed out, now that my garden is fairly established (though not without flaws), I don’t have to work in it all the time. And I am quite good at lounging lazily inside the house. However, when I am out in the garden, that’s when I see things I need to fix or want to change, and I can’t sit still to enjoy it. I keep telling my husband that half the fun of a garden is in rearranging. There’s always a better design for one section or another, plus plants change and move, so I must too. Perhaps all that movement actually provides the peace that I resolved to find in my garden. When I work in the garden, time just flies by. My only worry at the end of a long day is how to get the dirt scrubbed off my fingers. Is that peace? Maybe so. —Pam