Spring is coming – it’s time to grab your gardening tools!
“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” (Monet)
In a hectare (two and one-half acres), Monet mixed simple flowers, such as daisies and poppies, with rare varieties, and crafted a garden full of perspectives, symmetries, and colors. Later he would add the pond with its famous Japanese bridge covered with wisterias, other smaller bridges, weeping willows, bamboo, and the famous nympheas (water lilies), which would be the focus of his artistic creations for more than 20 years.
By shaping subjects before painting them, he created his works twice. Always looking for mist and transparencies, he dedicated himself less to flowers than to their reflections in the water; a kind of inverted world transfigured by the liquid element.
We’re fortunate to have a miniature copy of Monet’s garden locally, in Muskegon, MI, compete with a pond, a blue bridge and blue rose-covered archways. All flowers and shrubs in the garden are identical to those in Monet’s. Other local memorial gardens include Heritage Memorial, Mike Miller Memorial and the John J. Helstrom Memorial at Muskegon Museum of Art.
Memorial gardens are planted for the specific purpose of remembering someone or something special. They often have a theme or focal point and exemplify the idea that “The love of gardening is a seed that once planted never dies.” (Jekyll) My favorites:
1. Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids, MI, known for its sculpture park and butterfly gardens, Olbrich Gardens, Madison, WI, sporting the Thai Pavilion (the only one outside Thailand), Selby Gardens, Sararsota, FL, famous for its orchids, and Chicago Botanic Gardens, Chicago, IL are botanical gardens, dedicated to the collection, cultivation, preservation, and display of a wide range of plants labeled with botanical names.
2. Many gardens focus on a single bloom. In Holland, MI, a palette of color heralds the arrival of spring. During the Tulip Festival, rows of tulips line the city streets and mass plantings fill beds in fields and local parks. At Windmill Island, the only authentic operating Dutch windmill in the U.S., over 100,000 blooms, and a mass planting of over 60,000 flowers, dazzle the eye. The Mable Ringling Garden, Sarasota, FL, was founded in 1913 and boasts 1,000 bushes representing more than 400 varieties of hybrids.
3. The Emily Dickinson Garden in Amhurst, MA, recreates flowers and plants loved and tended by the poet in her reclusive years.
4. While most gardens radiate a peaceful atmosphere, some have a special religious significance, such as the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, where Mary met her risen Lord.
5. Some gardens have a special emphasis. The lavender labyrinth and herb garden at Cherry Point Market in Mears, MI offers a meditative space. The lavender is making a comeback after it was destroyed by the 2019 polar vortex.
6. My favorite garden though, is my little piece of paradise, where I putter as I please. Whether you are working in your garden or visiting one, the rewards are many – gardens keep you physically fit, relieve stress, make you happy, boost your health, create a healthy environment, produce oxygen, and are great for kids.
“God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it’s the purest of human pleasures.” (Bacon, Essays).
*Did you Know?
Of the 1775 official botanic gardens in 148 countries, the most notable is England’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. With 8.5 million items, it’s the world’s largest collection of plants.
One of the world’s largest privately-owned lavender farms is Australia’s Bridestowe Lavender Estate, with 260 acres of blooming purple beauty.
Lavender, part of the mint family, boasts 450 varieties worldwide and produces a mere ¼ tsp. of lavender oil per pound of flowerheads.
75% of cut flowers grown in the states come from California.
The hybrid tea rose blooms on average every 49 days during the growing season
The average household spends $503 on gardening annually and nearly 1/3 of the gardeners are aged 18 – 34.
During COVID 2019, approximately 16,000,000 people started gardening.
janet hasselbring 