seedbyte: Parting shots

Judy found me on the internet. She had 7 garden spaces but only two were developed. She wanted my help designing and constructing the other five.

Facing another round of cancer treatment after a 7 year remission Judy wanted to create a special garden refuge. She was an avid gardener despite the treatments and a bad leg. One time I arrived for a meeting and she was surrounded by water lilies and lotus that just arrived from a nursery run by monks in Texas. Another time the patio table was covered with 2" lavender pots from a specialty lavender nursery she found on the internet.

After the installation of the first two gardens we began working together on maintenance and
planting additions. We always toured the garden and set up work days where my crew and I would come in and plant copious amounts of bulbs, bare-root roses, specialty plants, whatever Judy had picked up locally or bought off the internet.

Judy made it through her round of treatments and a few emergency stays at the hospital and is in the clear now. Due to personal reasons she has decided to move to a new location. I have only been with her gardens a year but they are very close to my heart and she and I have become fast friends. Judy and I will create new gardens at her new home but it's been tough for me to say goodbye to these gardens. While the trend in gardens is contemporary with lots of architectural plants my heart belongs to the flower garden and people, like Judy, who live to buy plants and dig in the dirt.