Garden Diary: July 18 Walkabout

With early and midsummer past, the garden has entered seasonal maturity and the first signs of senescence are beginning. A very few heavy rains, in this extremely hot and dry summer, a drought really, have done their part to beat down some plants, and the slow movement from vertical to horizontal is beginning to be evident. But the garden has weathered the stresses well, and it's looking rather good, all things considered. Here is a tour, moving roughly clockwise around the garden, with few words. I'm trying to give a sense of space and movement, of choice, rather than pictures of plants or vignettes.

At the back, three additional willows, the arborvitae (one dead from drought), and a newly planted hornbeam hedge off to the left will eventually obscure the deer-exclusion fencing.

The hornbeam hedge (to be) runs behind the bench about 20 feet, then turns a right angle at the far side, up to the stone wall. This will be a shady, quiet, hydrangea-filled sitting area from which to view the garden and listen to the frogs, or the whirring of insects.

This is an entry point for one of the single-walker paths that will run through the interior of the garden. Picture informal pea gravel and stepping stones.