The December garden we are featuring is from Valorie P. in Maplewood.  When the house was purchased the garden had good “bones” with some evergreen plantings and a lovely weeping cherry in the front. Through the years, nurtured with lots of love, this garden has been transformed into an amazing retreat from everyday life. Trees, bushes and plants have come and gone. Valorie has been kept busy figuring out what works where and indulging in collecting coveted specimens, but also trying to keep the chaos at bay. Come take a virtual walk through this amazing garden!

“My grandfather was a tenant farmer and always kept a plot in later life. I remember the thrill of “helping” him in the garden as a very little girl. I was always fascinated with growing things and observing nature.”  

Though Valorie started with a good slate the soil needed a lot of amending which she did slowly over the years with lots of compost and leaf mold.

“Trees, bushes and plants have come and gone. I’ve kept busy figuring out what works where and indulging in collecting coveted specimens but also trying to keep the chaos at bay.”

“Each spring is a new challenge. The beauty of gardening is its changing nature. It encourages forethought, problem solving and requires physical labor (exercise!). Sometimes I even remember to sit down for a minute or two, take a look around, and breathe it all in.”

All photographs were taken by Joy Yagid (www.joyyagid.com).