The Pleasure of Plants

 I had been looking forward to Saturday for a few weeks, and when it finally arrived, I was nearly beside myself with excitement. The Northern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardener Association were hosting their yearly garden tour, this time in Luray, VA, 40 minutes down the road from us. We'd gone last year in Woodstock, VA, and thoroughly enjoyed it, picking up tips from the gardens we visited. Master Gardeners are on site at each venue to answer questions and offer advice. Bill and Jen were joining us for the day, but Bill had to host a class in the morning and couldn't come, but Jen could, even after a late night before returning from San Francisco. Go girl!

The garden I absolutely had to visit was Birdsong Pleasure Garden which I've been following on Facebook. It isn't open to the general public but they will give you a tour if you make an appointment with them. So I was extremely pleased to finally be seeing this beautiful garden after looking at photos on Facebook for about 2 years. We made it the first stop and drove out to the quiet countryside outside Luray, where we found a small group of Master Gardeners under a canopy and directing people into the grounds. 

The day was stifling. The sun beat down and there was no wind to evaporate the rivulets of perspiration that ran down my face. A few other people were present, but apart from their voices the world was silent, an occasional bird twittered and a few bugs buzzed, it was wonderful. The fields in front of us were hedged by day lilies in full bloom, a herd of cows were crowded under a shady tree, ears flapping, and the mountains soared up into the blue sky. I could have sat there for hours admiring this tranquil natural artistry, but not in this smothering heat. We checked in then and then gratefully made our way to the shaded coolness under some trees in the garden. 

The garden is owned and was created by Lesley and Tom Mack, who since 1992, have worked on creating a haven to escape from busy lives and luxuriate in the joys of nature. The garden is home to many native plants, as well as pollinating flowers, shrubs and trees. They have about 3 acres interlaced with grassy footpaths, corners that turn round into private sitting areas, shaded walks and beautiful pieces of garden art wherever you look. And look closely, as many are purposefully tiny, and can be missed, as they're sometimes tucked under a shrub or sitting in a shadow. It's a bit like negotiating a blooming maze, you walk about not knowing what's around the next corner, but are excited to find out.

The Japanese area was shady and cool, a welcome retreat as we stopped for a while under the leafy canopy to adjust to the temperature while letting our eyes adjust to our dimmer surroundings. There were many small ornamental features, strategically placed, each bonsai tree had tiny figurines, and I spotted a canoodling pair of frogs behind some rocks, which a couple of ladies found amusing, never having heard the word, 'canoodling' before. I'd never really noticed before how wonderful the jack-in-a-pulpit leaves were. I've seen the plant many times but always focused on the flowers and berries, yet never admired the intricacy of the leaves with that unusual border.

 There were delightful surprises wherever we went. I actually had to stand still and do a 360 degree turn on many occasions to ensure that I wasn't missing anything. As well as adding ornaments, or free standing art pieces made of glass or metal, there was also artistry in their fencing. I loved the use of branches inside the fruit enclosure, so vines could climb up them. They had also bent and weaved thin branches to create a low fencing around some of the beds.

This little VW van caught our our attention. It was highlighted by dappled sunlight, or we could have missed it completely, and upon closer inspection we noticed a 'doorway' leading into the redwood tree, emulating a photo taken years ago, and popular on the internet, of the same van driving through a redwood tree at the Sequoia National Park in California.

A Sweetshrub captured my interest, a ruby red bloom nestled among translucent leaves, illuminated by the sun, while below was in dark shadow. This is a native plant in Virginia, and is now on my shopping list. We saw a few in other gardens throughout the day, and I loved it. Unfortunately, I failed to get the name of the intriguing tree with the peeling bark. Light beamed through the raised bark layers creating the illusion of it being on fire. I was transfixed.

A couple of photos of Elliott and Jen posing under shady shelters. It was way too hot to stand for more than a few minutes in the sun.

The other gardens on the tour were a commercial tree farm and a fruit farm, not really gardens to walk about, enjoy and be inspired by, like Birdsong Pleasure Garden, so we decided to give those a miss. There were a couple of homes that had been added to the tour downtown so we drove to the parking lot, where we met a dear old man, sitting and giving directions, who lamented to everybody how his beautiful old tree that stood shading the front of his home, had been massacred by the local power company because its huge heavy limbs were encroaching on the power lines. It did look unsightly, and some of the damage appeared unnecessary, and we sympathized with him, feeling his pain. But he did have another fabulous tree in his garden, a large shade offering umbrella, covered in lemon yellow fronds. I looked it up later and think it could possibly be a Golden Raintree which, although it isn't native, it actually absorbs car exhaust fumes and noise pollution. It's highly recommended for its 'tidy habit and well-behaved root system' It's on the list, any civilized and refined plant is welcome in my garden!

We tramped down hot silent back roads to 2 other homes where we were taken on a short tour and had the plants identified. Once again, I made notes of some interesting plants to look up later and possibly put on my shopping list. There were some milkweed plants in one of them, attracting bees, but like mine, without any monarch caterpillars or butterflies. I've been reading other reports of folk not seeing them either, it's worrying.

This beautiful wreath was made by the owner, a local florist, at the last home we visited. She had a delightfully decorated, shady front porch, and we sat and chatted for a while. Somehow, the subject of welding came up, and when I explained I was teaching myself so I could make art and functional items for our garden, she gave me her name and number and asked me to get in touch once I was ready to sell. My potential first customer! The next surprise was finding myself giving my information to one of the Master Gardeners. Having been on the garden tours for the past 2 years, Elliott convinced me that our garden was good enough to be on a tour also. This had been my goal in maybe 2 years from now, but there's a strong possibility that Warren County may be hosting the event next year. I described our garden to the Master Gardener who was very enthusiastic about it being on a tour, so I relented and a couple of days later received an e-mail from the president saying someone would be in touch. There's still much I want completed in the garden before the tour, but I think with good gardening weather and hard labor in the fall and next spring, we can achieve most of my eventual goals. We're on a mission, and the rest of the hot summer will be a good time to plan. Watch this space!

A Bioluminescent BBQ

 Saturday was a glorious, perfect summer day, with temperatures in the low to mid 70's and no humidity. A light breeze fluttered back and forth in a pleasing manner, there was nothing that was wanted to make the day better, it was perfect. And there was no better way to enjoy this wondrous weather than to spend it with friends, so we drove over to Bill and Jen's beautiful historical house for a BBQ with their other guests, cooking lamb, ham, burgers and hot dogs with veggies, and accompanied by a tasty spread of homemade concoctions from everyone that came. Our contribution was a loaded potato salad, with bacon, spring onions and grated English coastal cheddar, and also a strawberry almond cake.

Both of which were very easy to make and, best of all, didn't use every pot and dish and utensil in their creations. We arrived at the party, fashionably 20 minutes late, and after greeting Jen in the kitchen, went out the back to find Bill. There were a few other folk there, some I recognized, and others I didn't. After introductions, and promises to try and remember names, we headed for Bill's vegetable and fruit garden, fenced off from deers, but apparently no match for rabbits and groundhogs who are regular night feasters.

I am rather envious of Bill's garden, having the space to grow so much food, and in awe of how neaty and tidy he keeps it. The paw paw trees are in the top photo, no fruit yet, but maybe in a year or two. The blackberries were rampant over a chunky wooden framework, hanging heavy with unripe fruit and flowers. Plus, he had managed to grow tobacco plants. I was rather chuffed at being the only visitor he's had who identified them correctly, but then I've tried to grow these and failed, but seeing his gave me a new incentive to try again next year.

His elderberries had grown huge, and I wondered if the new elderberry bush I'd planted at home, close to the front porch, would have enough room. I guess we'll find out! The hops were ready to be introduced to their string trellis, and were making do in its absence, by twining around each other in a skyward spiral, along with the honeysuckle, which was also corkscrewing up the fence. I nearly joined in with a twirl myself.

These two beds will be the total size of our vegetable garden out the front of the house next year. I just hope we can keep it as well organized as Bill and Jenn's incredible garden. They also have regular tomatoes, peppers, herbs and pollinating plants, as well as squash plants overflowing from their beds with fingerling tendrils outstretched towards the outer fence. There are peach trees, with apples and figs too.

Elliott and I walked to the back of the property to check out the creek that's bubbling alongside a stand of trees. It was so quiet and peaceful back here, only the sound of water tinkling over rocks, birds trilling above and insects buzzing around us. Bill had fashioned a small bench using logs and a slab of rock that overlooked the little stream. This beautiful dry wall runs down the side of Bill and Jen's home, built over a hundred years ago and likely to still be standing in another hundred years time.

The vegetable garden from the back, resembling Stalag 13, according to one of their friends, which made me laugh. I've never seen a fence around a garden like this before, but it is impressive. But not so, for this furry little chap, who wasn't at all delighted that he had a garden to run around in, especially when everyone else, and the food, were on the other side.

Lovely views of Bill and Jen's property, the last one taken from a small bench that Elliott and I found, and sat on, savoring the quiet beauty while being shaded by a tree and cooled by a gentle breeze.

Stuart Little's car, according to another friend, and I burst out laughing. It was actually a Triumph Spitfire, meticulously restored. We sat and chatted while watching a small group of new friends being taken on a tour of the old buildings and land by Bill.

And then it was time to grill. Bill and Jen had prepared fresh local lamb on kebab sticks, with peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and onions. I giggled and pointed out the copper 'sticks' holding the lamb; they were the same as my plant name sticks at home. Bill was amazed again that I recognized them and we laughed. They were certainly doing a better job of holding the meat than identifying my plants. The 'copper' plates were impossible to carve letters on and I'd discarded them. Halfway through cooking, an engineer friend had to move and place rocks inside the grill base so the meat would sit better over the coals while it slowly transformed into a succulent slab of deliciousness.

And then it was time to eat. Someone had brought Tennessee moonshine, which was very tasty, and plates were loaded, everybody heaping their plates high with spoonfuls of everyone's culinary contributions. It was a veritable feast! Chairs suddenly became occupied very quickly so Elliott and I went onto the front porch and sat on the swing, enjoying the shade. One guy found a tiny bench in a flower bed and enjoyed his food there, no doubt sharing it with the insects that must have suddenly surrounded him!

After we'd eaten, Elliott and I went for another wander to work off some of our huge dinner. It was cooling down, strange weather for June, and so we grabbed additional clothing from the car. But I welcomed the lower temperatures, intensely grateful that there was no humidity. An old shed stood sagging out the back, and I forgot to ask Bill later if there were any plans for it. A few people were leaving, no doubt wanting to stretch out on their own sofas for a post feast nap, and we waved to the neighbors who zoomed past us on their golf cart.

Bill and Jen flicked on the outside lights and the pace began to slow down. The music was turned off and people sat chatting while fireflies ascended from the long grass, their little lamps flickering as they floated across the lawn. One guy trundled his BBQ, loaned to Bill for the afternoon, towards his car, and failed to notice that the wheels had caught up in a cable, nearly tugging all the lights to the ground, until alarmed shouts made him stop. Tragedy was averted and conversations resumed.

I wandered over to Bill and Jen's old barn that I'd never peeked in before. The floor was decades old packed earth, and as I stood still inside, the musty warm air resonated of many past lives spent working inside here, countless seasons of corn piled high, for animal feed or to be ground into flour. A door in the side of a wall stepped up to a 'secret' chamber, where the fading evening light could be seen through old weathered boards.

Bill had pulled out one of his art pieces which I'd never seen, an obelisk of computer motherboards. It was incredibly sturdy and a shame, because it wasn't weather protected, that it couldn't stay forever in the exact position he'd placed it in, the fading dusk glinted off its tiny parts, making me fantasize about it having been gifted by an alien, appearing suddenly as a thanks for a sumptuous evening it had been part of, but unseen by the rest of us.

The evening ended with a show at the back of their property by the fireflies. Not having my camera, it was pointless trying to get shots with my phone, so I'll describe it instead. Along the tall tree line that followed the creek, thousands of tiny glittering lights bobbed and flittered  in the dark, soaring up high into the trees and bobbing above the grass below, flashing and twinkling, glinting and glowing, a panorama of tiny beacons. Some came close to us, shining bright for a couple of seconds, then quickly disappearing as they moved on elsewhere to blink again, and briefly sparkle once more. We stood for a while watching this spectacular show, only usually seen throughout June, then after one last backward glance, left to go home.