WATER I NG CAN A Note from the Editor
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.”—MAY SARTON MY HUSBAND, GATES, has given his heart to gardening. In fact,
his regular reading list consists of seed catalogues, gardening books, and my Garden Club of America bulletin. Be it tending our 3-acre suburban garden or developing and maintaining quail habitat and grazing land on our farm, he enjoys “digging in the dirt.” He loves the burning process on the farm in winter to open the surface of the forest floor to more sunlight so that the seed bank can come forth. He loves the spring preparations for growing season, mostly turning soil for planting. And he loves bushhogging old lanes in the fall to open them for long walks and trail rides. When I think of my husband, I think of arriving home after a day at the office to find him in the front beds with a trowel in hand, a wheelbarrow full of new plants and flowers nearby, and the hose from the house at the ready. There will inevitably be a moment of head-scratching as he ponders if he should run to the plant store for just a few more specimens. Then I will often hear him utter, “We’re almost there.” To which I respond, “Where?” What he means is that he has almost wrestled the garden into where he wants it to be for the moment. Meanwhile, along with the daily delight of seeing a gorgeous garden, I have the pleasure of meandering through his handiwork, snips and basket in hand, and cutting from his beds. I will find just the right vessel and arrange what he’s grown into something just as beautiful as his garden but more controlled, defined, and highlighted. And I will perhaps place it on the mantel or the lowboy in the front hall. He grows, and I cut and arrange—it works.
Each story in this issue features someone who’s been called into the garden with various gifts and missions. For India Hicks, it’s to remember and remind us of her late father, David, and the specific, sophisticated, and successful applications of his design tenets to the land at The Grove, his home in Oxfordshire that he shared with Lady Pamela. For designer Thomas O’Brien, it’s to provide a dreamy visual and recreational oasis in Bellport, New York. For Drew English, head gardener at High Hampton in the mountains of North Carolina, it’s to dazzle guests with the exuberant dahlia garden he lovingly tends. For landscape architect Ed Hollander, it’s to collaborate with the land and its inhabitants in forging a beautifully holistic design. And for Gerard Pampalone of Beanacre Farm in Connecticut, it’s to realize a long-held dream to create a gorgeous garden from seed to bloom, sourcing from abroad and sharing the lush beauty with friends at home. Whether you’re gardening, touring gardens great or small, or like me, gleaning from someone else’s plantings, I hope for you the grace that is found in the garden in these days of summer.
Love and SDG,
Margot Shaw EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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8 FLOWER July•August 2024