Sheila and I, inspired by Laura Crockett’s lecture during study weekend, looked forward to touring her garden. It more than lived up to our expectations, full of some of the best ideas I’ve ever seen. Her website is gardendiva.com, her wonderful slogan is “I dwell in your possibilities”. Her sidewalk gardens alone would have been worth the drive. As you look at her front garden, think of the lot next door, below, which was the same size, and empty.
Meanwhile, in Laura’s front garden….
As we had seen in her lecture, she used repurposed shower doors as garden dividers. From outside the garden, the glass and metal allowed tantalizing glimpses. I can’t even imagine where to find someone to fabricate structures like this, but maybe to a metal shop it would not be as daunting as it looks to me.
Eventually, we managed to leave the excellent sidewalk gardens and pass through the arbour. Within the translucent walls, a still pond had a geometric metal bridge.
We found a friendly garden cat…
…and small details everywhere.
At one side of the house, a glorious wall and door combo provided great entertainment as we all tried to get photos showing how it worked.
One of our fellow tourists, the woman to the lower left, was particularly impressed because she had some physical disabilities and was still able to move the gate with ease. When we were not sliding the gate back and forth, we were closely examining the details.
Finally we made it through the gate and into the back garden. Brightly painted panels and more shower doors divided the garden into rooms. First we came upon a series of garden rooms that would be perfect for an evening party.
Laura had described in her lecture how her garden was divided into areas for children’s play, grown up parties, and the practical matter of growing vegetables. Playfulness spills over into every area; in the productive and organized produce garden we realized that the back wall had come out of a school restroom.
Over the top of the veg garden, our eyes were drawn by a bright blue beach umbrella.
Moving on, we found it easy to tell when we were entering the designated play area.
Nearby, more elegant grown up seating provided a view of the children’s paradise.
Still more artful vignettes were tucked in against the house.
At last we came to the end at the far side of the house: one more room devoted to the happiness and safety of cats.
Here we had to turn back the way we came, which meant more wandering through the garden and more lovely surprises. This was a place we could have stayed all day had we not three more far flung gardens to see.
The garden is so rich in detail that I just knew I was missing something by having to leave.
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