This is Gabe Horrisberger, my long-time gardener.
A few years ago, a very large tree in this area of my garden passed away. I was lucky enough to have the tree removed before it fell on my home or my car.
This spring, Gabe had the vision of petunias trailing over the wall here.
I trusted him on it. We had never planted anything in this bed before, but Gabe said the soil was very good.
We planted the petunias, moved two rose bushes from the front garden where they had not been receiving enough sun, and added three yellow lantana plants and some purple heart plants, a.k.a., wandering Jew. I had never had any purple heart plants, but Gabe promised me they are drought resistant perennials in our area. Later on in the summer, we added one purple coneflower.
The rest, as they say, is history. My garden exploded with color. It never required fertilizer and I haven’t been fussing over it, as I have had to do with other flower beds that seemed to require my constant nurturing. It has been a major magnet for many varieties of butterflies, who I see from my studio while I am doing my healing work. Sometimes I am able to run outside with my iphone and catch them on camera.
I wrote another blog post about how much Gabe loves his gardens.
He is especially proud of my garden.
We love to chat when he comes over and discuss the well-being of all our residents – what needs to be pruned, the challenge of trying to grow grass during the hot Atlanta summer months, the best times for new plantings and maintenance that he feels I can do.
Gabe is also my client, which, I explain to everybody else, is partly why I have such a glorious garden.
Recently I was speaking to a friend about a challenge I have been going through.
“Spend more time in your garden,” she advised me. “You really regenerate yourself there.”
I drive home and the first thing that I see is the petunias that Gabe had envisioned. When I leave my house, the last thing I look at is my garden.
It is such a sanctuary. The noise of life seems to drop away and the magnificence of all my blooms feed my soul more than almost anything else.
