THE TIME HAS COME THE GARDENER SAID

Or I should say that both gardener and under gardener are saying the same thing and have reached the conclusion that the time has come to pass our gardens on to another gardener.

This garden has been millions of years in the making as without the most incredible limestone that we found on the property we could never have given it the bones it has. Millions of years ago Texas was covered by a shallow sea in which lived the creatures who made our garden rocks. On their death their skeletal fragments sank to the bottom where they were compressed over time until they formed rock.  A period of time of which we can barely conceive. We have been rearranging those rock on  this piece of land for 21 years. It has been a labor of love and we will leave it with a heavy heart. No doubt the next gardener will change the plantings but hopefully the bones of the garden will remain the same. 

 

Without the large ledge stone rocks that came from the foundation there would be no sunken garden or terraces in the front courtyard.  These rocks raised the level to the ground to bring in soil to give a decent depth of planting. Shallow soils on the Edwards Plateau limit the growing of many plants. Lime stone and bluebonnets pair so well in the early spring and look wonderful even without all my gorgeous agave which died in the wicked Texas freeze.

 And the smaller flat rocks I collected while building the house gave us the dry stone wall in the English garden, reminiscent of the walls built to divide fields in our native homeland. 

 Those same rocks were used to pave the patio area in the English garden. We have enjoyed many a breakfast here protected from the summer morning sun by the high wall.

We have always been a couple who liked to do things for ourselves and that would be very difficult to change. And yet we know that with our advancing years we cannot continue to do all. All those adventures up ladders cleaning gutters and checking our roofs need to stop. It is with an incredibly heavy heart we feel the need to move on to a simpler house and garden. We have adored our house, designed for us by Dick Clark in 2000. We had given him our brief and he gave us exactly what we asked for. The enclosed spaces outside allowed us to create the gardens. It was all our own work. We woke up every morning to a house with incredible light-filled rooms and with views of the outside gardens we created. 

 What will I do with all those photos I took of the garden and there are thousands. Just like my garden style I hardly delete any. So just like paring down the contents of our house I will get busy on that project. My computer will be so happy.

Bought in England I hung this little plaque by the front door. It will remain and hopefully will bring good fortune to the next owners of our much-loved house and garden.