I Do Ladew

First, thanks to the staff and board at Ladew Gardens for inviting me to speak at their fall lecture series. I was so honoured to be included. It was such a fun day and I had the chance to meet so many wonderful people.Second, thank you to everyone who attended. It meant so much to me that you came out to see me speak! And if you’ve just signed up to receive the blog, Welcome!The Gardens now are so much different than when I last saw them in May and June. The colours are muted, and everything seems more faded and softer, but there are still lots of great things to be seen. There were hanging baskets filled with this burro-tail succulent (Sedum morganianum). The beautiful rainbow chard was getting blowsy and overgrown.Berries in all colours were hanging from the bushes, giving the local birds and wildlife plenty to snack on through the coming winter months.Some looked like they’d already been eaten. The light today was bright and soft. The sky was an amazing blue and the gardeners were out in force, giving the topiaries one last trim.

One of the tenets that I talked about today was finding extraordinary things in an ordinary life. I encouraged the guests at the lecture to look, and to see. As an example of this, I spotted this amazing black elephant ear (colocasias) plant with the sun shining through it. The way the veins in the leaves were lit just took my breath away. As we were walking through one section of the garden, we heard a huge THUNK, and looked to see that there were osage oranges (Maclura pomifera) all around us. This is the season to see them along the edges of the roads and paths.

Usually when I am at Ladew Gardens, there’s some sort of event going on, and many times, there’s a huge tent in the front garden which obliterates the view of the house. But today, such a perfect early autumn day, the house was looking wonderful.

Once again, thanks to everyone at Ladew for including me in their lecture series, and thanks to everyone who came!