I can't imagine making a new garden that's six times larger than your old one and that's also less work. But nothing deters author and designer Page Dickey from her determination to keep on designing and making a new garden just as fabulous as the old one.
In Uprooted: A Gardener Reflects on Beginning Again
As she puts it in the introduction, "I felt stricken for a few weeks after we made the decision to move, periodically dissolving into tears as the enormity of leaving this world I created hit me. But as I slowly accepted the necessity of the move, I felt stirrings of excitement at the thought of finding a new nest. I began dreaming of the possibilities of a move -- less garden, more land, another quirky old farmhouse, maybe an apple orchard, a real meadow."
Dickey abandoned the concept of garden "rooms" in favor of open spaces that afford views to the landscape beyond. Now, there are garden beds filled with perennials and flowering shrubs, gravel paths, a swimming pool garden, a cutting garden, and yes, some of her very favorite plants. There are natural fields and woods, a small wetland fen, and lots of wildlife. "When I can no longer garden for very long," says Dickey, "I will still have the fields and woods to walk in. My new roots, my heart, are spreading deep in that wild land, and the life it affords that we are helping support."
I won't add more so that I won't spoil the story, but I encourage everyone to read this heart-lifting book.
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