All My Phlox by Valerie Strong

Author:Valerie Strong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Kent State University Press

“We have to enclose this rear lot so you’ll have something to look into from the gravel yard,” I explained to Jenny. “What we could do is build a bank of tough shrubs that will fill in quickly, shrubs like lilacs, honeysuckle, viburnums, and maybe some old roses that would arch over with fragrance and color.”

Jenny was smiling. “Great, just great, and look,” she turned toward the house,” I’d see it all from the kitchen.”

“Later you could sink stepping stones level with the grass for a visual lead through the arbor to a bench set among those old roses.”

“That would be so beautiful” Jenny was grinning now, not even aware of the raw wind. We were both thinking of summer luxuriance, a bench and fragrance and a breeze stirring the leaves of the big oaks. It was rare to talk to someone who could catch the same sense of place even on an impossible day, in an impossible situation, and transcend it all to inner visions of beauty.

“But wait, Jenny. It won’t happen all at once.” I had to give fair warning. “If we are being frugal we won’t buy the largest shrubs, and even fast-growing ones take time to fill in.”

“Oh, I don’t care. I know it will be beautiful and I would rather watch them grow.”

“I’ll have to quote you to some others I work with who want everything at mature size immediately.” It was true. “How long will it take to grow?” was a frequent question. No one wanted to wait five minutes for anything, as if gardening were no more than selecting the living room sofa.

“I know the perfect hedge for you and it won’t cost a thing.” My mind was on the enclosure for the gravel garden. “We’ll just dig your hedge from the wild.” It sounded easy. “It’s a wonderful plant, gray dogwood, and the bulldozers are trashing them where all the new developments are going in around Hudson.” I explained to Jenny how much I liked this plant; its stiff upright habit and cut-off height meant that it needed minimum pruning. In winter it has a very gray cast, and with new spring growth it colors its habitat with a rosy top glow. It is one of the many plants I admire as I travel the countryside wondering why these native treasures aren’t treasured.

“It’ll look as if it belongs here, and there will be no maintenance. Now what about an arbor? Would that be too much do you think, if it is very simple?” Jenny is not the cute type, and I thought she might think an arbor just that.

“I love arbors. That would be terrific.” She is an artist, after all, with the ability to visualize. “What would we grow on it?”

“There are so many things. I have a rose that is surefire, Viking Queen, and she lives up to her name for taking our winters and coming through the summer non-stop with deep-pink, very fragrant blooms. Best of all she asks for no sprays, just lots of manure in spring.

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