I have been a bit consumed with the adopt-a-plots at Ault Park lately. The gardens look wonderful and I want them to stay their best. If I had my way, all the adopt-a-plot gardeners would be at the park, each day, tending the plots.
That is why I spent a good part of three days in 90 degree heat spreading mulch, pulling ivy and installing a few flats of new plants. As I contemplated a new garden design I saw a beautiful bride, her groom and their wedding party in the adopt-a-plot lawn having their photos taken. They looked happy, cheery faced and clean. I was smeared with mulch and soil, very hot and sweaty, toes dirty and looking a bit clobbered by the heat. I glanced down at my once pink garden gloves and for a moment felt like the ugly step-sister left to dig in the dirt while her beautiful sister married the prince.
Truth be told, I love working in the park and getting good and dirty. You know it is not a good day in the garden if you return home with clean hands and feet. Perhaps that day I was not dressed for Champagne and appetizers, but I was looking the part of a dedicated gardener. And they did choose our adopt-a-plots for their wedding photos. So I pulled on my soiled gloves with pride and had a secret toast to my fellow adopt-a-plot garden friends for creating a garden fit for a bride.
Jenny Koester, AKA The Landless Gardener, is the Garden Blog Editor for Horticulture magazine and the author of The Garden Life.
It is gratifying when wedding parties choose to have photos taken in a garden we work on. I am part of the committee responsible for the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne FAlls, Mass. Many a bride has begun her married life with a flowery stroll across the Bridge.
That is wonderful! We have a lot of weddings at the park- nice to have the music of a live band to garden to. Wll you post a picture of your garden on our Face Book page? ~~ Jenny