The beauty of time spent gardening

Last weekend was nearly perfect. Yes, it was hot and humid, because it's Missouri. But I found reasons to be outside nearly the whole time. On top of that, I got to visit and work in a very beautiful garden in Leawood, KS, another suburb of Kansas City, but this one is south of the city. I live on the eastern edge of KC.

This is the front of the home surrounded by the garden that I visited. You get a sense even here that it is lush and full, spilling out of it's borders.

A walk around one side of the home takes you past large terraced dogwoods and an immense oakleaf hydrangea bearing it's beautiful blooms that are just now fading to pink. You can see in this photo how much this gardener loves hostas. This is a tiny sampling of the never-ending variety that thrive here. The gardens behind the home are edged in this lovely red brick forming a neat edge that a mower's wheels can ride along easily.

Through this arch there is a shade garden filled, not only with hostas, but also with many varieties of Japanese maples and other shade-tolerant shrubs. A small patio in this space is surrounded by a large and obviously thriving variety of shade-loving perennials. The space was cool and inviting.

I came to this garden to help a long-time gardener/owner who felt she'd gotten a little behind in her planting and weeding. As you can see, the garden still looks lovely, there being very little that seems untended. I think  that's because this gardener is truly a lover of beautiful plants and over many years has amassed a collection of them that gives a visitor like me an eyeful of beauty everywhere she looks. With so many plants a weed has little chance of being noticed - and to be honest, there just weren't a lot of weeds.

We spent most of our time working around this area, exposing the brick edging. Behind these large, established plants is a terrace with two archways covered with climbing roses and other vines. One of these arches led to steps made of railroad ties. Standing beneath the arch I could hear birds playing in the vines entwined above me, very comfortable that this was their space. It was near midday when I was there and in the shade of the vines the air was cool. I succeeded in spending a lot of time making sure those steps in the shade were as clean as possible. It was nice under there and now there should be very few weeds obscuring the path.

In this photo the tall arching hydrangeas and the flowing grasses create a beautiful contrast to the lawn. And look at the canvas cart sitting in the grass. This belongs to this garden's owner. I love this gardener's tool cart. She has everything in there - even a skinny retractable rake. I'd never seen one of those.

This, I think, is my favorite spot. Behind the Ming house is a circular pond. The pond was constructed many years before by sinking a stock tank into the ground. There is a waterfall, but it isn't running. You can see on the left a threadleaf Japanese maple and a young ginkgo biloba that edge the pond. I remember what looked like a miniature juniper and other pretty ground covers helping to create an oriental feel. It's a very pretty space.

I enjoyed my visit to this garden. It was inspiring. I'm impressed by this gardener's love of plants which is obvious in the variety she has collected. I'm hoping to return and explore more soon. Maybe I can help get the waterfall going again?? I'd like that.