The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
– what a beautiful day
There is so much to write about this morning, and only so much time!
Our Tuesday morning Bible study was loaded with ideas that I want to share with you, but I am still sorting through the details. Then, when I got home, Rebekah and I drove over to Chapel Hill to walk around the North Carolina Botanical Gardens.
Actually, we first drove to Durham, with the intention of seeing the Sara Duke Gardens; but while the gardens are open the parking is closed. Closed with no alternative offered. “Pedestrians are welcome” doesn’t really help much when you arrived in a car and there is nowhere to put it.
We were there specifically on a research mission, so maybe ending up at the Botanical Gardens – dedicated to exhibiting exclusively North Carolina flora – was the more practical destination.
However, while the gardens are divided into various regions – Mountains, Piedmont, Sandhills and Coastal Plain – there is no “Urban Gardening” feature. And, even though that was mostly a tongue-in-cheek observation, the more I think about it as a future idea for the N.C. Botanical Gardens, the better it sounds.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
two roads diverged in a wood…
So this is the road Rebekah and I taking: we’re looking at developing a long-term plan (one-two years) for our garden on Saint Patrick Street and we were at the botanical gardens to look at native plantings and to glean ideas.
Not ideas in terms of scale so much as getting a sense of what plant material we want to incorporate and what works well in terms of high impact but low maintenance. Not a lawn and manicured beds so much as getting a sense of definition and accessibility in the small urban space we are working with. We are looking at incorporating some hardscape too, a more usable but porous driveway, a more appealing gate, a path, screening the garbage and the HVAC – making the back yard actually usable.
– in Chapel Hill
Much like the hard work involved in writing something short but stuffed with meaning (read “It’s just the most words, and it doesn’t let up…”), designing a small space like ours is a real challenge. I love wildflowers, for example, but we don’t have a field! I love pathways, but there is nowhere for one to go. And I love the idea of a walled “Secret Garden” but, same!
When our grandson Mr. T. was visiting we walked around together and he came up with some great plans; but they all start with, “Well grandaddy, first we have to demolish your neighbors’ houses so we have enough room for the water park.” I appreciate his all-or-nothing sense of vision!
Regardless, Rebekah and I enjoyed a good day of research, finishing off at one of our favorite nurseries, Atlantic Gardening in Raleigh.
Herb Garden
However this all works out, we are thankful we have the opportunity to continue this ongoing renovation here in Tarboro.
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” – May Sarton
You are wise to use native plants and ‘work’ with the earth instead trying to ‘control’ it with a lawn. The lawn would own you – possessions possess.
That’s good!
Also- I have never and will never invest in grass. It’s very costly environmentally