Last year I was given a beautiful book......In a Unicorn's Garden. It has been a source of inspiration to me and has pride of place on my bedside table. As I read the book a seed was planted in my mind, and started to grow. A 'winter meadow' beneath the old apple tree is the result.What follows is an extract from the book....beautifully written.......and something that feeds the soul of this romantic gardener.
Somewhere deep within we all carry the memory of an archetypal paradise garden,
a place both gently ordered and of wild exquisite beauty,
filled with fruit and nut trees that defy the seasons, spangled with blossom,
bowed down with fruit dripping with ripe sweetness.
The ground is carpeted with soft meadow grasses and scattered with glittering wild strawberries and tiny flowers.
In this garden the sunlight has a golden purity,
the breezes are sweet and we are enfolded by a gentle nature.
In a place of such fecundity, such tranquility,
such sensuous pleasures that every generation seeks to recreate this earthly garden of enchantment.
In a place of such fecundity, such tranquility,such sensuous pleasures that every generation seeks to recreate this earthly garden of enchantment.Happy Sunday safari........
Beautiful - words and photos!
ReplyDeleteJane
Thank you Jane....hope you are having better weather then me.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful : )
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteLovely, so nice to see everything is coming out already.
I think my irises were jealous to hear yours had come out, I have three about to open now :) also noticed a lot of croci, muscari and various others joining the snowdrops in the borders.
This is especially satisfying to my color starved, snow blinded eyes. It sure lifts the spirits. Here we still have a blanket of snow on the ground with snow showers predicted. I wonder when (if) this winter will end. Sigh~~
ReplyDeleteHi Liz.....glad to hear your iris are ready to bloom...they are a beautiful addition to the winter garden. Of course, for me, the hellebores are the real beauties.....I absolutely adore them.
ReplyDeleteMuscari does not do well here, they are, unfortunately rabbit fodder........
Hi Lisa....do not worry, as my blooms fade, yours will open and restore your spirit. It really is not that far away.......
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl, I have In A Unicorn's Garden too and I often find myself dreaming of creating a medieval inspired garden.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are beautiful as ever!
Lucinda
Hi Cheryl...beautiful words and photos that i can only dream of at the moment...but as you said mine will be just beginning and your will be a dream !! :}}
ReplyDeletePS the colors are stunning!
Hi Lucinda....a very dear friend gave me the book as a birthday gift, I treasure it.
ReplyDeleteParts of our home date back to 1346, the book has helped me understand what might have stood on this plot at that time. I am trying to add plants that would have been here during that period.
Hi Grammie, I love to see gardens worldwide, we all have something to offer each other during the changing seasons.
ReplyDeleteI love the colours also.......
Dear Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteMy eyes are full of tears. You have created a garden any
Unicorn would be comfortable to call home. Absolutely gorgeous flowers. Snow lays heavy in my gardens. I know my flowers are still sleeping.
Happy Sunday safari. The Unicorns know you are their friend. You know how to create magic.
Sherry
How lovely it looks Cheryl! Your photos show it to perfection. The dwarf Irises are exquisite. I am wondering now about the area beneath my old apple tree...another seed sown? ;)
ReplyDeleteI broke off from writing this comment when I heard an alert come in to tell me I had a comment on my blog...and it was you :)
Have a lovely week Cheryl!
Dear Sherry,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much......as you know, the unicorn fascinates me. The book you so kindly gave me feeds my imagination, spirit and mind.
I added many natives to my garden last year, they all have hidden meanings. I intend to make gentle changes each year......
Your garden sleeps.....it is waiting......resting.......spring is but a breath away and your pretty flowers will soon burst into life.
I hope you are feeling much better soon.
Warm hugs......
Dear Jan, that would be such a lovely idea.
ReplyDeleteI read in my book that it is a good place to plant them.
I am amazed just how many have come up and they do look stunning....
I have also planted fritillary, snowflakes, miniature daffs and crocus. I am so excited to see how the displays come and go.
My dear, I so agree~My own archetypal paradise garden has fragrance and beautiful flowers; creatures happily wander about; it's a hideaway, that's cool on hot days and warm on cold ones! Your photos are beautiful and fill me with longing for Spring. I cannot figure out why I haven't planted any of these beautiful iris. gail
ReplyDeletecheryl,
ReplyDeletewell you have created such a place and bless you for it. what an inspiration you are to me. all of your early spring blooms are so lovely. right now i am devoid of flowers and i miss them. my dh brought me some daffodils and i have enjoyed watching them bloom one by one.
i love these small irises especially the really dark ones and the hellebores always remind me of you.
happy february.
ps...i have done little to no blogging lately and miss you my friend.
Dear Cheryl, Your garden is enchanting! Thank you for visiting my blog - I am glad you did because it brought me here. P.
ReplyDeleteGail, you have a lovely way with words.....your dreams may one day be reality, perhaps? I am sure in my mind you are half way there already.....
ReplyDeleteHi Marmee, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe all have busy lives....I always think of you and your family, out there somewhere, doing your own thing......
Yes indeed, I love my hellebores. I have bought some new hybrids and cannot wait to see them in bloom.....fingers crossed.
Pam, thank you. I am glad you like what you see......
ReplyDeleteOh Cheryl, what a lovely, enchanting post! Those dwarf irises are stunning. Thank you for planting them. David is looking down on your garden and beaming...
ReplyDeleteI love unicorns too. In my mind of all the mythical beasts they are the gentlest.
I am glad you are sharing your spring garden with us snow-bound gardeners. It's so encouraging for us to be able to "sneak a peek" into the coming season.
Hi Wendy, I am so pleased you like the little iris.
ReplyDeleteI love unicorns.....I love the myths and magic that surround them.
I am pleased to share......I know it gives other gardeners hope of what is to come.....
I also have Unicorn's Garden - a fabulous book and also still on the table next to the bed. There are some books which seems to take months (years?) to get to the shelves and this is one of them.
ReplyDeleteHi Bilbo......I think my book will stay by my bedside forever.....I absolute love it.
ReplyDeleteDid not know of this book Cheryl but what a joy to read the words that illustrate your heavenly blue irises and angelic Hellebores. Your winter garden is true romance and very uplifting to see. Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteLaura
Hi Laura, Thank you. I like to think I have a romantic garden but we all see things so differently, do we not??
ReplyDeleteI, too, have a vision of a paradise garden, and I think yours must come very close to that vision, Cheryl. Do you really have irises and hellebores blooming now? I came back from the relatively warm temps of Oregon to more frigid weather--it's -8 this morning...which would sound even colder in Centigrade, if I could remember the conversion:)
ReplyDeleteDear Rose, I hope that you had a wonderful time. Quality time with your daughter.
ReplyDeleteYes I really do have dwarf iris and hellebores in bloom. Daffs are up, and I would imagine will be blooming their little socks off by the end of February.
Our temperatures at this time are extremely mild.....too mild for this time of year
Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say, as you like The Unicorn's Garden you may also enjoy "Medieval English Gardens" by Teresa McLean. Will give you significantly more information about plants grown between C.10th - C.15th.
Suggest Google/Shopping as a better source for this item than Amazon.