“New
seed is faithful.Its roots deepest
in the places that are most empty”
- The Faithful Gardenerby Clarissa Pincola Estes
From
her email signature, I gathered she was a teacher, with long summers off for
gardening in Rhode Island. She'd purchased some Green Envy zinnia seed the
year before for her class project. That's how I first met her. This
summer, she sent pictures of her gardens! WOW! You might imagine I'd
open her page with one of those pictures, but instead, I want to show you what I
think inspires her beautiful Spirit -- "Le Magique" here below!
The sea! The ocean! The wind and sail! If you love Mother
Earth, you love and appreciate all of Her! I believe Denise does.
And I think her inspiration for her beautiful gardens comes from a quiet place
inside of her, but also from the ocean around Narragansett, Rhode Island.
Our
OTHER hobby....our sailboat...'Le Magique'
She
has selected pastels -- pinks, lavender & lilac, white, and green as a
recurring theme. As I looked at her photographs, I was reminded of a
bewitching story of a Pink Lady, a lovely & lonely, melancholy ghost,
believed to inhabit the grounds around our high school, and only seen at night,
so the story went. I never saw her as others had, but if she existed, I
think she could have found the peace she sought in Denise Rubin's Secret
Garden.
Without
further ado, let's spend some time in Denise Rubin's gardens, as she tells us
about it, in her own words!
"I do gather my
inspiration from nature.....especially the sea.......on the sea one is
especially aware of how small one is and how respectful you need to be of mother
nature.....it is a humbling and at the same time, freeing experience for me. I
feel the safest at sea.....I think because I am away from the cruelties of man
and am in tune with the wind, the tides, the rising and setting of the moon and
the sun....when at sea for an extended time....I feel a physical and spiritual
connection with the air around me in a way that never happens on land..."
--Denise Rubin, Jan.04
(This from one who creates such Beauty on land! I am
always amazed at God's creation in ourselves. -- S.Baller)
Okey doke....here's the
driveway that goes to the arbor. There's my
bouquet stand.....under the maple tree...I hope it is a welcoming
scene.....we love company.....planned or not...
....flower stand...with
other end of rose arbors in back ground....that's
my 'new' hydrangea tree between the stand and the arbors...can't wait for
it to get 8 feet high and 6 feet in diameter (that's what the catalog said,
anyway).....
.....out from the patio
to one of the driveways......Dwarf Alberta Spruce
to the right....some boxwood, hemlock, holly, honeysuckle, pine,
juniper, bleeding hearts ground cover, ......through our arbor......out to
the real world....my bouquet stand is out there on the left lawn...can't
see it here, though...
...my patio
garden....see the rock wall? I lugged those rocks home from
the beach and started those lavender from seed under grow
lights...sprinkle the dried leaves in my bureau drawers and in the winter
when I pull out a drawer I get a whiff of summer...more loosestrife (it
reseeds and I let it), dahlias, sedum ( I love sedum as a border plant and
the colors in the Fall...I have white (snowcrop), pink and magenta....it is
also great as a filler in bouquets all summer....an added bonus - it roots
in water and I instruct my bouquet customers to plant it after the other
flowers in the bouquet have died...the bouquet that keeps on giving!
Customers come back year after year and tell me how great their sedums are
doing that got their start in one bouquet!)...more shrub roses, Dame's
Rocket, tradescantia, glads...there is one very clear pink long stemmed
rose bush here that I've had forever and it is the most beautiful pink
flower you have EVER seen...I swear my trick is that I put banana peels
around it and it loves the potassium...my stepsons love throwing their
banana peels out in the garden...as long as it's around the roses! I love
the glads even when they are not blooming since the 'spear' effect of the
foliage makes for nice contrast to the 'shrubbiness' of most other plants here.
...More of the patio
and the 'outside' patio with asiatics, orientals,
hemlocks, bishop's weed as a ground cover, lavender, malva, holly, spruce,
daylillies (no yellow or orange...hate those colors!....You could walk out
of my kitchen...onto the patio....to the outer patio...out to the
gardens....right to under the arbors or left into the back yard....I love
just strolling around through all the paths....I do it several times a
day...in the morning with a cup of tea and my kitty Scupper following and
talking to me and the birds.....later in the day with a friend.....at dusk with
David...
...my first garden. When I moved to 164 Caswell
(bought it as a single
woman in 1984....my first house, my first garden) this garden had mums in
it...I hate mums...so, I ripped them all out and planted balloon flowers
(platycodon), black-eyed susans, and lots of annuals. The balloons and
Susans have stayed to be joined by sedum, phlox and monarda.
The monarda
gets a bit evasive but I get really aggressive every Spring and my friends
love this 'cause they get the invaders!...the blue lacecap Hydrangea in the
background was also here when I moved in....the building you see is our
garage that also houses a bunk room for my three wonderful stepsons (that's
right, I didn't remain single, David and I met on Block Island in 1990
during a sail boat race and married in 1995).
....more of the
patio...see the honeysuckle-covered arbor in the
background? David and I designed it and he built it for our
wedding....Jewish people get married under a canopy called a
'chuppa'....David carted this arbor to the Acoaxet Country Club in
Westport, MA, where we were married, under the arbor...my good friend, Joy,
who owns the flower shop 'Flowerthyme' decorated it with white hydrangea,
white heather, pink roses and white tulle....facing the ocean. David, me,
the boys and any visitors come and go under this arbor entrance to the
patio....it is a wonderful feeling...like renewing our vows on a daily basis!
..I made this bench!...in a wood
working/adult education class....it is
redwood and mahogany I think....not very comfortable, really, but it LOOKS
good! The chiminea is a new purchase this year...comes from Mexico and I
burn brush and twigs in it....has an insert for grilling too!...we love
it....I also think it makes a great structural statement in the yard and on
the patio.....way in the background you see a couple of the six angle iron
arbors I had made in our metal shop at the HS by our students......all
different rose climbers are being trained on these.....it also makes a
great pathway in and out of the back yard...
...more of my patio...we love hanging out here at
sunset, kicking back,
talking about the day with a cool drink and taking in all the wonderful
smells and colors around us....with the gardens all in shade the colors
are especially intense but soothing to the eyes...David and I might walk
around and I'll point out what's blooming that hadn't been eaten by the
woodchucks this year!...or, a new purchase....or where I'd like to put in a
fountain and could he 'do the electrical stuff involved?'....this is when I
love to cut flowers for bringing indoors....it's also when I like for
friends to come to 'tour' the gardens...I'm relaxed, showered and feeling
blessed that we have our health, live by the ocean, and are surrounded by
such beauty...it makes all the weeding, pulling, hoeing, carting, watering,
dead-heading, transplanting, rooting, composting, cow manuring,
yada...yada...yada.....worth it...
...my 'shower' garden...David put an outdoor
shower...mostly for the boys
when they get back from the beach (we could walk to Narragansett Town Beach
from our house...the most beautiful beach in the world!)....here you'll
find loosestrife (purple), The Fairy rose (I'm trying to train it to go up a
wrought iron hook...it's working!...sedum, platycodon, Bells of Ireland
(not doing so well this summer - too dry), dahlias, variegated physostegia
(pink), glads, and a crawling sedum that is too shaded by the rose...I need
to move it (been saying that for about 4 years now!)....love showering
amongst the flowers...at night under the stars with the scent from the
Oriental Lillies...mmmmm...heaven!
...my newest garden....a row of white pines developed
some fungus and lost
them all....David was 'commissioned' to put up lattice privacy 'wall' and
pink climbing roses were immediately planted...they looked great in the
Spring. This is my 'dahlia' garden...hence all the stakes...other flowers
that make up the foundation are tradescantia (spiderwort)...give to me by
Barbara - a resource teacher at the Elementary school over ten years ago -
it gets a little ratty right about now so I shear it down to the ground and
if we get some rain it will bloom again for Fall....Gladiolas (I leave them
in for winter and they do fine), monarda, lupines, achillea millefolium
(pastel yarrow), Asiatic Lillies, daisies, Dame's Rocket, tulips, sedum.
This garden I feel like I have to apologize to people for until the dahlias
start blooming because it mainly looks like a 'stake' garden till they fill
in...but, I love it because it soothes me in the Fall when there isn't too
much color and the color there is has been ravaged by the summer sun and
cold Fall nights...but, my dahlias are brilliant and happy and
strong...till the first hard frost. I will be so happy when the roses
cover the lattice...so will the neighbors!
...a bigger view of the 'bunkroom' garden....loosestrife, climbing New Dawn
roses growing up the lattice and on the roof!...Oriental lillies,
physostegia, centaurea montana, bearded iris, purple coneflower, 'Heritage'
rose by David Austin (at door to bunk room) hesperis matronalis (Dame's
Rocket...blooms in Spring...everyone wants to know how I get phlox so early
in the gardening season!). I love this garden...there is color all summer
and into Fall...I can see it from my kitchen and I love watching it evolve
Spring to Summer to Fall. I don't dead head the last of the coneflower and
sedum and when the snow covers the ground these heads stick up through the
blankets of white and give me hope that Spring WILL COME AGAIN!!
Other Views....
....Bench and chair below....for the
elusive "Pink Lady"...
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* from
the Farm!
From time to time, we will offer web-only specials and publish
short stories about the Farm Dogs or the grandkids, and inspirations from life on the Farm in mid-Michigan, the
American heartland. Seasonally, we will write to help Gardeners grow beautiful Zinnias,
learn how to make a stunning
bouquet, or how to collect precious seed when harvest is here. Let us know
if you would like to receive them.
We have moved our web to a new server and resized all photos for faster load
times. As we approach another winter, I hope
you visit us often to see our pretty pictures and read about the simple things
we love most here. Thanks for being a
customer! -Sharon Baller, President
My Secret Garden
