I recently visited Bedrock Garden in Lee, New Hampshire, and I felt relaxed and bright. A.D.
Noni is a talented designer who has won numerous awards at the Boston Flower Show. Walde uses her skills to create metal sculptures from small to large, as well as to work with other media. Mገርnger is a natural builder and moderator who has enabled Jill to install her geography along with water features, walls, roads and much more. They are truly a couple who make each other’s best.
When I visited the gardens, I was fortunate to find Noni as my guide. Visiting gardens with me was also managed by John Forty, a non-profit executive director and horticulturist who managed the gardens. We spent three hours exploring the gardens. I learned many plants that I had never known before.
Bedrock Garden is full of amazing things that delight, enlighten and inspire visitors. I came away with a big garden for my own efforts and thanked Noni and Munger for adding to their gardens.
For years, the Bedrock Garden was open on a few weekends during the summer, but five years ago, Noni and Munger were approaching the so-called “retirement age” and needed to take a serious look at the future of the gardens. They created nonprofits, hired Fortin as director and thought about how to differentiate between public and private spaces.
At the time of the outbreak, they had created a parking lot and a tourist center away from home – the old farmhouse where they had lived for more than 40 years. They have created a family environment that is as enjoyable as the children themselves.
There is a gnome house near the parking lot where children can enter. It is made of a large, bare fig tree covered with a metal roof, reminiscent of a mushroom hat. She saw the magnificent trunk on the side of the road and immediately braked to ask. Fortunately, she was the first to visit and found him. (Five other people stopped and asked him that day, she told me, but she was the first).
I consider myself well exposed to the horticultural gallery in New Hampshire. Bedrock Garden is in Zone 5b, which means it will not be colder than 25 degrees Fahrenheit for most years. But Noni grew up with a lot of plants that I had never seen before, especially in Japan or China.
Noni used plants in amazing ways. So, for example, the “bull’s blood” heritage used beetles for their purple leaves deep in the flower bed. Annual effort, but very impressive. When a pitched tree was cut down, Monger cut it into two-foot sections and overlapped the sections between the two trees, so that onlookers looked like binoculars. He can see where the branches are growing. They call it “Log Jam.”
Noni made good use of ornamental grass throughout the garden. Source grass (Miscanthus spp.) It is more than six feet tall and grows well in the sun. She grows up in a beautiful Allee setting. But she also uses it in the shade. “He is smart in the shadows,” she said, “I like him.
Metal sculpture is a key element in the garden. At the beginning of our visit, I admired the የተሰራ-inch steel fireplace, which was built with a series of 11 arches, 13 feet high and 7 feet long. “I use the sky,” she said. She beautifully bent each metal frame into a Gothic arch, discovering the lines of the Gothic cathedral. And she is developing European fast-paced houses to wear the metal frame as part of the installation – one on the arch streets and attached to the metal. They will finally reach heaven – the tip of the arch.
In the garden, there are two metal “Chiwaras” inscribed with masks made by Malian Bambara people. In Mali, where I worked with the Peace Corps many years ago, I told Noni the story of Antalop. The people of Bambara admire the ants they have taught to sow the main crop. The ant shook the ground, and threw some fertilizer into the soil containing the seeds. So they honored the monks with their well-dressed masks.
If possible, plan a visit to Bedrock Garden. There is a guided tour every day, and two weekends. Or wander around and study the design elements – see how Noni has used amazing and inspiring plants, and how she has added wisdom and ingenuity to her delight. This is a garden worth visiting to cultivate, even though it has a large area or energy. Bring lunch and plan for the day. You will be glad you did. And if you have children in your life, think about attending the Fairy Hobbit House Festival October 9-11. Learn more at www.bedrockgardens.org.
Henry Homer’s blog is viewed twice a week at gardener- guy.com. Write to Mailbox 364, Cornish Flat, N 03746. Please include a self-addressed, sealed envelope. Or email henry.homeyer@comcast.net.