A summer tour

Winding garden paths are most effective when offering a mystery around every bend. Obscuring the view beyond the curve is difficult in a young garden and a near impossibility with perennials that grow only to knee height. A shrub or low branched tree is most effective in shielding the view, adding a sense of anticipation and making the garden seem larger.

Here, there is foliage of tree or shrub at every bend in the path, along the few straight areas, and occasionally a low tree canopy with a gap between branches that permits passage but only a sliver of the scene ahead. Of course, this was integral to the master plan developed thirty-five years ago.

Okay, you’re right. There was no master plan, and any magical passage through this garden was accomplished purely by accident. I credit a subconscious genius, which, of course, is never apparent to others. I plant by impulse with no advance planning, and all seems to work for the best.

In any case, visitors mention the mysterious winding paths that pull them forward, even as uneven paving underfoot and protruding branches slow their pace. All the better to notice uncommon plants scattered about or any of dozens of Japanese maples, dogwoods, and redbuds.

Not unusual for obsessive gardeners, the garden will never be completed. Despite calls from my wife to stop planting (or purchase the neighboring lot), there are regular additions, sometimes reworking an area or adding a rockery (or two). The lawn has been diminished until it covers only the septic (above) in the rear and a narrow sliver in front. I’d rather have none.

Recent encouragements in media to layer plantings are old news here. The space beneath small trees must be covered, and many shrubs allow a ground layer to be planted. From the start, my purpose was to cover ground to minimize weeds and to increase the number of plants. In most areas, I’ve succeeded, but there’s more to do.