08.11.08
The Memory Garden
Jeff and I have a spot in our backyard that has a particular circular pattern. This was the result of an above ground pool that came with the house when we bought it back in 2001. Two brutal winters in a row finished the pool off and we opted for a year-round hot-tub with deck rather than put a pool back in. The spot remained bare for several years, then we put the garden in but there was still a faint circular foot print that I’ve always wanted to do something with.
Two years ago, I planted some bee balm (mondara didyma Aquarius) along the hill which has spread nicely and filled in a crescent-shape, giving us the first hint of something else, something bigger that might make use of the existing pattern. We’ve also been focused on making the beds in the back yard friendly for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds while trying to keep deer uninterested. So this weekend the ideas for the spot came together and we came up with the idea of a memory garden, filled with flowering plants to draw in my mother’s favorite butterflies and hummingbirds but also to give us some focus against the garden. So we put in a circular path of stones around a central stone and then continued the crescent of bee balm around the parameter. We have a bronze bird-bath/sundial combo coming for the center and lots more salvia, milk weed, bee balm, and butterfly bushes to fill in. I’ve also got creeping thyme seeds coming to sow between the stones because frankly, the idea of buying a ton of 3″ pots of established plants, cutting and dividing them up to stuff between the stones sounds perfectly horrific.
But the little thing that will only be significant to Jeff and I, and the reason we’re calling it our Memory Garden, is because we’re totally going there: we’re having a few stones engraved with significant dates in our life together: when we first met, when we first boffed one another (eerrr…see “when we first met”), our domestic partnership, the day we bought our home, and now in late September, our wedding date. We’re not typically schmaltzy boys but when we apply ourselves, we do it whole-heartedly which I sorta love.
August 11, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Memory garden? I don’t think my poor old heart can take much more like this.
And yet I can’t get enough. I swear it’s almost like I’m rooting for you guys or something. You’re my team? What the? And why am I wearing this big foam finger?
August 12, 2008 at 11:21 am
What a great concept. It makes me think of a walking meditation labyrinth.
August 12, 2008 at 7:27 pm
So touching, so you, dear boy. Things always seem better when you are home.
August 13, 2008 at 7:29 pm
This sounds like it will be really beautiful. And what a great idea to make it into a memory garden!