photo by Lynn H. Wyvill
I look in the gardening magazines and online where gorgeous formal gardens are featured. Articles list the proper names of the plants. The flowerbeds are well planned. I point these out to my husband and tease him, “I want our place to look like that.”
Actually, that’s not my goal because that’s not us.
I’d call our approach to gardens free-spirited. There was and is no master plan, just whatever we like, we find a place for. We collect, gather and recycle.
We had an old barbecue grill that needed to be replaced, but my husband didn’t want to just throw the old one out. He cut the legs off and voila a planter. Our marigolds love it here! That’s it pictured above.
Some of our plant saucers are the bottoms of milk jugs, coffee cans, even an old broken and repaired pasta bowl. One of my watering “cans” is a soda bottle with a spout.
Colorful plants that catch our eye in the garden center or farmers’ market come home with us. We have a collection of yard art that evolved over the years - a piece made by a friend and others made by my husband. A cement birdbath my sister gave me, decorated with vines, ladybugs and birds, sits in one of the beds. Many trips to Williamsburg and the Outer Banks are responsible for our ceramic flowerpot collection and various wind chimes. The patio furniture was bought at different times and isn’t all matchy, but we love it.
It’s an eclectic collection that just seems to go together. How can you go wrong when your garden contains everything you love and holds good memories?
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Lynn H. Wyvill grew up in Washington DC where her favorite activity was sitting under a Japanese red maple tree, watching clouds create pictures in the sky. As a writer, she finds peace and inspiration when hiking in the woods, strolling on sandy beaches, and observing nature’s show in her backyard. Those experiences are captured in her first book, Nature’s Quiet Wisdom. Before writing books, Lynn worked as a radio/TV reporter and writer for the US Department of Agriculture and owned a consulting business that trained professionals on the creation and delivery of effective presentations. She is a lifelong learner, avid reader, small town explorer, and dedicated theater attendee who lives in beautiful Virginia with her husband.