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   The garden is a combination of styles and inspirations.  The English Cottage Garden style is a favorite of mine, with its wide beds and deep borders of lush perennials.

   Herbs, flowers, vegetables, vines, roses, and berries as well as garden architecture, art, toys, statuary, and found objects have been used to create a garden which I hope is unique and individual. Natural looking with just a hint of formality and a healthy dose of whimsy.

   One thing that appeals to me about plants is the history connected with them. Sometimes it's the history of the plant itself I find interesting and sometimes a plant will have some special significance to me personally.  I choose plants for my garden very carefully, the way one might choose one's friends.  For this reason I dislike the commonly used term "plant material."  It's like referring to your friends as "human material."

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The central feature of the back garden is the Herb Garden made of two conjoined circular borders. 
The middle of the upper, larger circle is carpeted with Woolly Thyme and the interior of the lower circle is mulched with Hazelnut shells. 

   Culinary and ornamental herbs live side-by-side with the occasional rose, vegetable, and flowering annual.
   Lavender for color and fragrance;  Oregano, thyme, chives, rosemary, lovage, fennel, and sage for the kitchen;  Mint, anise hyssop, lemon balm, and monarda for tea;  all these and many others share this bit of earth which is the hub of my back garden.
   One plant of which I am particularly fond is a seven year old Rosemary ( Tuscan Blue ) which now measures nearly 22 feet in circumference.

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The deck is kind of a viewing platform for the rest of the garden.

 

 

It is here I spend many quiet hours enjoying and contemplating the garden around me,
watching birds and dragonflies and,
to quote author Henry Beston, listening to
"the serene footsteps of the year."