Move Right Out, Your Garden Awaits You

Your garden wasn’t finished when I came by to chat about outdoor furniture and found you sitting outside, coffee in hand and laptop open. Amidst the newly planted shrubs and mess of the gas line trench, you were right at home, living as comfortably outside as in.

Up on Morning View Drive, your landscape design showed a small sitting area placed to enjoy the long view across the valley. We had only begun the site clearing work when I saw you’d moved an old deck chair out to the planned spot and had enjoyed an evening drink there. You were ready to move right into the picture and make it real.

The day after adding more ground covering natives to your South Hills slope garden, you sent me a text “I ended the day seated on the top step with an aster – so lovely….”

And from your home on the edge of Hendrick’s Park, you sent me a message about the owl who visited your garden fountain when you were outside. It was the most magical moment.

Designing a garden is a fantasy of what could be. Planning and building one is a lot of hard work. But seeing you living in the actualized space is pure joy for me. I am enormously grateful for you, garden lovers. When you move right out and claim your new garden as an extension of your home’s rooms, you get up close and connected to the plants, the light, the beauty of nature. And it’s so wonderful out here! Renewing, refreshing, grounding, magical – you name it!

This is why we make gardens, so you’ll live in them! When I look for you at home, I hope to find you out in the garden. Maybe you’re relaxing in a hammock, cutting flowers for a bouquet, or even just stopped in your tracks on the way from your car to the front door by the dance of a hummingbird. I don’t like to design landscapes that we don’t install. I miss the times when you connect with the becoming place and make it your home. These moments are the gold that keep me working and making more beauty, one garden at a time.

One comment on “Move Right Out, Your Garden Awaits You”

  1. What beautiful writing! You’ve expressed thoughts and feelings I have forever, yet continue to elude me when putting into words. (But I do keep trying!) It’s all about “Being outdoors.” All about connection.

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