Kelly's Garden, Part 1

It all starts with the seduction of flowers. We humans feel it, right along with the rest of the natural world. A fascination with flowers is what started me on the quest to grow a cutting garden 3 years ago, and it’s still the reason that I pour over the seed offerings from Floret and perennial plant lists like a teenage girl reading the style section of People. When my friend Kelly Ford reached out to me at the beginning of 2020 about planning out a cutting garden at her house, I was thrilled. I have gotten so much joy the last couple of years out of being able to walk outside 9 months of the year and cut plenty of flowers both to bring inside and to give away, and I knew she would cherish that same ability.

After a few months of planning and site preparation, we installed several hundred plants in October - a mix of flowering shrubs and perennials. Many of the plants had started to go dormant already, so planting was truly an act of faith: “Just wait for spring. This is going to be magical.” And it is. I’ve thought about Kelly’s garden a lot this winter; the transformation from an unloved patch of uneven grass and weeds to a magnet of beauty, even on day 1 with infant plantings. I’m really looking forward to watching and sharing as the space flourishes and matures over time.