IN THE GARDEN

A special welcome to each of you! This “For the Earth” NESTER post features the significance of the “home garden’s” role in the continuing effort to increase the respect we all need to have for nature.  All the quotations in the post come from The Wild Braid, a book by poet Stanley Kunitz with Genine
Lentine.  In his 100th year, Kunitz’s book is filled with wisdom about gardens and life.

To illustrate Kunitz’s insights, all the photographs are either from our friends’ gardens or from our current neighborhood. To all the gardeners who have shared their beautiful gardens with Lorelie and me through the years, a hearty thank you! You have enriched our lives!  We are delighted to share them with you!

Welcome to “High Summer” and multi-colored hydrangeas softening houses,  bordering gardens and  shading paths in parks.  After the blush of April and the exuberance of May, hydrangeas with their soft green leaves, blue and pink colors and cloud shaped blooms invite us to choose a good book and relax in the shade. 

Welcome to Lorelie’s and Lee’s celebration of roses in public and private spaces. Lorelie has always loved roses, whether they are in bouquets, gardens, or along fences and roadsides. Her first rose garden was in Richmond Beach, where she carefully selected grandifloras for  their big sprays of blooms  and the hybrid teas for their long single stems.
Lee’s camera highlights the roses in bloom on her walks in Edmonds. Enjoy!!

Hello there! Thanks for dropping by and joining us in returning to beginning times in our home in Ponderosa.  Our living room windows fronted an overstory of pines and firs that dominated the property.  We soon named the property and yet to be imagined garden, SHADY GROVE.  With one lonely vine maple adding variety, our first key landscape decision was to thin the evergreens and add deciduous trees that would provide spring bloom, contrasting colors and textures to the dark green canopy.

Welcome Friends,
You are invited to enter and enjoy the display of tall lilacs in the Olson gardens. Savor the haiku sensory impressions by Maureen Mitchell and contemporary haiku poets. Learn more about these fascinating shrubs!

Lee and Roger invites you to join them on an early spring walk in the Seattle Arboretum Japanese Garden. Lee’s camera brings the bright blooms and greens of April to life. They are a welcome reward of pleasant weather after several rainy days!

Imagine that you are with them and enjoying the displays and flowers while Lee takes photographs. You will have the time to pause and fully appreciate what you are experiencing along the walkways through the festival grounds.

You are invited to view a colorful garden with trees and shrubs of brilliant red, rich gold, orange, and bright yellow! Many years ago Lorelie and Tim planted burning bushes, vine maples, Norwegian Sentry maples, smoke bushes, and an Eastern Redbud. These trees and shrubs contrast with dark green  of firs and pines. During late autumn, the colors seem to change each day!

You are invited to view the Olson family gardens with their brilliant fall blooms! The term “fall color” is most often referring to the red, orange, and yellow leaves of the overstory of trees, but we can also appreciate the smaller color displays of flowers in our gardens, planters, and bouquets.

Michelle, Karl, Lorelie and Tim Olson invite you to visit our Everett gardens for a close view of the varied and subtle textures in our shrubs, herbs and groundcovers.  These plants add seasonal interest and are adaptible to different areas of the garden; many can be used in planters as well.