Williamsburg Garden

Fairy Garden

Today was a productive day.  In anticipation of a major landscaping job to complete my sister, Rosalind's Williamsburg dollhouse, I did a practice run by creating a fairy garden for my three granddaughters, Caroline, Sara and Eliza.  They will be visiting in July to attend Rosalind's memorial service.  Rosalind worked on renovations to her tiny estate up until three weeks before her death when, as she said, "I seem to have run out of steam."  Only a little molding around a door and the landscaping remains to be done, so I am going to do it for her.

Rosalind and her husband, Larry at Christmas-photo by Tim Stone

 I have been looking at photos of gardens for inspiration for this landscaping project.  Thought it would be fun to show you a few....

 

 Many of the gardens in Williamsburg have some common design elements.  Can you spot them?

Answers are at the end of the post.

I also bought a rose bush to plant in Rosalind's memory.  She adored flowers of all kinds, although when helping Larry choose some new xeric plants for her front garden, he reminded me that pink was not a choice Rosalind would have made.  When Rosalind was younger, her hair was a beautiful auburn color and she never wore pink or used it when choosing fabrics for her house.  This peach rose looks lovely in my garden of mostly pinks.  God chooses colors with abandon in his creation so I choose to mimic Him.

Now I need to find a yellow one for my Mama who loved yellow.

We will be planting a tree in Brittany's yard for Rosalind as well.  Do you find working in the garden a comfort in times of grief?  Or is gardening the last thing you want to do?

Common design elements found in Williamsburg gardens:

Many are parterre gardens.   A parterre is a formal garden constructed on a level surface, consisting of planting beds arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern, with gravel paths laid between.

The gardens are tidy and often have clipped hedges. Many of them have painted wooden picket fences or stone fences.

They almost always have some gravel paths (something the lady of the house would appreciate to keep her long skirts from being soiled.)

Most have brick as part of the design, either as edging for the beds or as formal paths.

Many combine flowers with vegetable and herbs but the more formal gardens rely on hedging to form the bulk of the design and have no flowers at all.

Two last questions..."Do you prefer a formal garden with clipped hedges, tidy edging and carefully chosen plants in common hues or do you like a cottage garden with exuberant colors, soft edges, and a multitude of plants?  Can you guess which I prefer?  Okay that was too easy a question.