Ann Lovejoy’s garden
I have no photos of the 2000 garden show in Seattle because that was one of the years that a show had a VHS tour available for purchase. The day after the garden show, Ann Lovejoy (yes, the Northwest garden writer whose 1988 lecture at Tilth I credit with turning me into an impassioned gardener) invited me and Mary to Bainbridge Island and took us to lunch, as a thankyou to me for having started the volunteer boatyard garden in Ilwaco. I had talked with her about it at the workshop in Cannon Beach the previous summer. That was also the day we helped a bit with one of her volunteer garden projects at the Bainbridge Library. She took us to her own garden and to the nursery of which she was then part owner. Below, her garden in February with a wall made of broken concrete.
Below: In Ann Lovejoy’s garden, at the side of a large open area she used for outdoor Tai Chi. The property was her home and garden school and Tai Chi studio all in one.
The wattle fence behind the patio had been created by Sue Skelly, whose long ago Ballard garden had been an inspiration to me.
Below: In Ann’s garden; I was thrilled to see her work area.
Ann took us to a new garden that she was creating; this shows the design technique of leaving space between shrubs and one’s house.
- leaving space
At lunch, she shared her own hardships in beginning her writing career, in her marriage ending, and other stories that made me realize my own personal struggles were much the same and that eventually I might be able to come out the other side of the difficulties.
I’ve been a big fan of Ann Lovejoy for a long time and we finally were able to bring her to Pittsburgh a few years ago. “The Mixed American Border” completely transformed my own garden and I’ve read it several times; not only is it filled with creative ideas, it is beautifully written and photographed. How fortunate you were to get a visit to her garden!
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How fortunate to be able to bring her to Pittsburgh! I love all of her books.
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[…] We put round rocks along the house to make that strip of non-garden advocated by my garden guru Ann Lovejoy. […]
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[…] Lovejoy had a garden bed edged in a tall wall of broken concrete. I liked that, […]
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