Pat tells me she has dabbled in gardening for many years but started in earnest about 5 or 6 years ago. As soon as she decided she wanted to devote more time and effort in gardening, she began to read everything she could get on the subject by checking out many, many gardening books from the library.
Researching shade gardening, garden “bones” and starting from seed, Pat developed a great fondness for clematis, partly due to the fact that she inherited two large, thriving Jackmanii when she and her DH bought their house.
The literature and resource material she read influenced her the most : garden writers like Michael Pollan, Marjorie Harris, Diane Ackerman, Rosemary Verey …
Pat has been gardening in her present garden since 1989. There were gardens existing and these have either been modified or added onto. More garden space has been added. With most gardeners, she works in an ever-changing landscape.
Pat’s largest garden is her woodland garden. She has mostly shaded areas and used a lot of hostas in the dry shade areas.
There are two other gardens which get more sun (about 5 hours per day) than the rest and Pat has chosen to place most of her clematis here. She also has the ability to indulge in a few plants that prefer sunnier aspects in these gardens, like my 4 o’clocks, nasturtiums, dianthus and lupines. Her favorite plants are clematis, honeysuckle, lilies, daylilies, hostas and roses, and she wishes she had more sunny areas to accommodate more plants.
One of Pat’s favorite areas, though, is her pond and the garden around it. This pond was here when they bought the house and Pat still feels that it was that single thing that sold her on the house – “15 years ago, they weren’t all that common and I have loved the idea of a pond since I was a child.”
Pat’s husband helps with the garden, she says he has a more artistic eye than she does and also does a lot of the heavier work – digging, trenching, preparing beds and composting.
“ My “wall” of honeysuckle attracts hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. The pond and its waterfall provide the birds with a built-in bath. We have lots of squirrels (which I don’t really mind as they are almost like pets). And there have been some unwelcome pond visitors also : possums, raccoons and egrets, which try to get at my fish.”
Pat claims she is not a very good planner in the garden.” Plus my gardening tastes have evolved through the years, so what I liked when I started is not necessarily the same today.” (Well said!) As the gardens mature, things are becoming overcrowded, although DH likes it that way. Pat would like to re-do the front “sun” garden because she says there really is no rhyme or reason to what’s planted there. The woodland garden needs some rearrangement, which she plans to do this fall. “And we love and value privacy, so we are forever adding vines and shrubbery to provide this.”
