Gardens at Bayonne

About a year after we moved to Ciel Sur Terre from a neighboring suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, I was presented with the October 2001 issue of Taunton’s Fine Gardening for which I still treasure and proudly display the periodical to this day in one of our many “reading stations” about the home.  Of particular interest, is a feature article entitled “Pleasing Rhythm Makes a Garden Sing” by Richard L. Dubé, APLD, landscape designer and author, who effectively employs rhythm in landscapes and provided the inspiration for my “Blue Notes” post.  Mr. Dubé superbly demonstrates his point that “A “well-orchestrated” garden design is akin to a well-written musical composition.”  Artfully presented sketches help define musical terms he translates into garden design, including;  4/4 time, syncopation, cadenza, largo, pianissimo, pizzicato and forte.  This article is the most inspiring blend of music and gardening I have ever read.  An absolute must read for the gard...

Music has always been an integral part of our family’s life; weaved neatly into our casual gardening process and today, more than any other time; we find that connection to the combination of sounds producing beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotions, with and by creation, is inseparable from growing things.  For example, the emergence of a tiny seedling—say that of the prickly Cynoglossum amabile, or ' Chinese forget-me-not ' seed, from its rugged, captive protection, escaping its covering, then propelling its embryonic tip, violently struggling to break the ground above towards the lights’ energy source becoming more comprehensible when coupled with the sound of the movement of the earth, the gentle whisper of the breeze that cause the syncopating rhythmic sway of the tiny plant, almost as if the composition were written specifically for that one tiny organism.   And when considered with the surrounding “like” seedlings, growing in unison, a symphonic mast...