When Ric and I got married in 1990, he had planned a two week honeymoon which was all a surprise and truly wonderful. Little did he know that it would be the inspiration for what has become my great passion: perennial gardening.

We started out in Charleston, S.C. (which had 9 months before been ravaged by Hurricane Hugo). Instead of detracting from our experience, this factor opened up opportunities, including meeting Elizabeth. We met her in the “Pink House” which is a small art gallery in a unique historical building (google this and find out its surprising history). Elizabeth gave us a tour of the “Confederate Home” where she lived. This residence was established after the civil war for the many widows who needed housing. To do this, they had converted the governor’s mansion and two other buildings into one residence. Elizabeth’s apartment had been damaged in the hurricane, so she was temporarily living in what had originally been the ballroom of the governor’s mansion.

We had reservations for three nights in a beautiful bed and breakfast called the “Belvedere,” but the rest of our two weeks was going to be an adventure. Charleston was expensive even then, so he had planned that we would move on up the outer banks. However, Elizabeth invited us to stay in the guest room of the confederate home: two twin beds at $5 per bed per night! We could hardly believe our good fortune: this allowed us to have three more days in the center of the historical part of Charleston. Much of this time we spent taking self-led “walking tours” through the narrow streets and peeking in at the small perennial gardens…… That was my inspiration to become a perennial gardener, and our first anniversary trip to Williamsburg a year later “sealed the deal.”

It is hard for me to summarize my 30 year love for perennial gardening, but I will try: First of all, as a woman in my forties who so longed to have children, perennial gardening had many parallels to parenting. Preparing the garden beds was like preparing the nursery, selecting the plants and watching them grow was like the “newborn” experience, and then as the perennial gardens grew and changed through the years, I (like countless gardeners and parents before me) realized that the gardens were taking on lives of their own and I did not really have control over the outcome. I could only try to “guide” the gardens by transplanting, thinning, grieving what “just disappeared,” and always trying to figure out: “Is that a plant or a weed?”

Secondly, a gardener is like an artist: “creating” a living, breathing, painting! The artist gardener stands back and assesses where more color is needed, feeling the hues and textures of all the green, instinctively putting the complementary yellow and purple in close proximity. Standing back, the gardener joins the artist: assessing the areas that need work and also surprised by the beauty.

(I need to add here that I have met “master gardeners” and they have amazed me with their knowledge and expertise. However, I am not one of them. Instead, I am thankful to be able to work in the “Master’s garden,” and as long as I “stay tuned,” He shows we what to plant– where, when, and how.)

Finally, perennial gardening is like a symphony with different movements. The symphony begins in winter with a single “oboe” accompanied by a bassoon and the soft background of “deep strings”: dried perennials with seeds left for the birds to eat during the long cold winter, the evergreens, and my favorite: “hellebores” or lenten roses that give us hope by blooming in midwinter.

Then come Spring’s “piccolos and flutes”: crocuses press up through the snow, followed by “woodwinds and strings”: daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and perennials like forget me nots, ferns, hostas, peoni, iris…… It is the recurring, perennial season of rebirth.

The Summer movement slows and stretches out — “clarinets and saxophones” perhaps –with summer phlox, wild geraniums (pictured), thread leaf coreopsis, cleomi (spider flowers), etc. in the ebbing and flowing of the dry times and the rains.

And then–pay attention or you’ll miss it– the “brass” are featured as the trees clothe themselves in the brilliant colors of Fall, and the garden shines with purple asters, back eyed Susans, red, orange and yellow mums and marigolds…..

A thought for today — “How anxious, sad, angry, depressed, or uninspired can I be as I become a part of this great endeavor?”

Yesterday my brother John sent an article revealing the results of a study done of areas in the world where people have the greatest longevity. In addition to the factors of which we are mostly aware like diet, exercise, sleep…., the researcher found that a commonly recurring activity among those who live long is that they “garden.” In listing the “reasons” why this is such a healthful activity the author started with this :

“1. It gets you into nature. Exposure to sunlight, fresh air, and plant life all have health benefits. In fact, doctors in Scotland prescribe “nature walks” for high blood pressure and anxiety. They also encourage patients to interact with the surroundings, whether that means bird-watching or collecting…..”

Now, be sure to go to our “pages”: “Marilyn’s Garden” and “Ric’s Nature walks” and see the evidence that we will live for a long time!

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