A Glimpse Of The Garden: Growing Memories

By Nancy K. Crevier

“A Glimpse Of The Garden” is a miniseries focusing on the heart of a gardener’s work — a special spot, an extraordinary plant, a place of respite, or a place that evokes a heartfelt memory. What is down the garden path of your friends and neighbors? What is down your garden path?

A mass of purple balloon flowers at the base of the walkway greets visitors to Cindy and Stephen Hedrick’s home, with neatly pruned spirea, clumps of sedum, New Guinea impatiens, and a large hydrangea, bowed down in July with lavender blossoms, leading the way to the front door. Rhododendrons stand tall on either side of the front steps, and then the eye is led away to more foundation plantings, including holly bushes and spring blooming columbine. Most years, said Ms Hedrick, the annual New Guinea impatiens are Mother’s Day gifts from her oldest son, Matt. 

It is the rock garden stretching nearly 30 feet long and tumbling down a gentle rocky ledge on the west side of the property that is the focus of most of Ms Hedrick’s gardening attention, though. The garden was already there when they bought the property, she said, and a number of the plants there were in place, including the rose of Sharon that dominates the center. Ferns and white iris, fronted by wild geranium that run down and over the rocks, have made themselves to home in the garden. A little chipmunk resides in the iris, said Ms Hedrick, and seems to keep the weeds around it at bay.

“I think he eats the tree seeds that fall, before they can sprout,” she said. “When my husband and I looked at this property just over 12 years ago, my first thoughts were, “Nice gardens, but how will we possibly be able to do them justice? There were so many, and they would be in need of a fair amount of ongoing attention,” said Ms Hedrick. At the time, her full-time job and their three children seemed more than enough to tend to. But having always enjoyed plants, she nurtured the garden as best she could.

Astilbe, spirea and sedum are joined by  annuals that Ms Hedrick puts in each year, as well as geraniums that she overwinters and replants each spring. A large swathe of lily of the valley nod tiny white heads each spring, where the rock garden meets the lawn. By mid-summer, they are a thick layer of deep green foliage. At the far end of the rock garden, giant white hydrangea mark the way to the back yard.

“I want to get to the point where so much color comes from the perennial shrubs and greenery in this garden, that I don’t have to put in any annuals,” said Ms Hedrick.

She agrees with her husband’s philosophy, “If you like it, it’s a plant; if you don’t like it, it’s a weed,” and is happy to let unidentified plants from the wild join the more than 45 others in their gardens, several of which are gifts from friends.

“It’s exciting. When you least expect it, something else pops up and you think, ‘Hey! Where did you come from?’” said Ms Hedrick.

“God has blessed us with many gifts,” Ms Hedrick said. “Sight, so we should fill our eyes with beauty; knowledge, so we should try to put that to good use; and nature’s abundance, so you should spend some time getting your hands dirty, growing something.”

Prior to and after 2008, a particularly difficult personal year, Ms Hedrick has truly appreciated the healing beauty and peace of her gardens. Four years ago, her 20-year-old son, Justin, died of bone cancer.

“I got a lesson in perspective through the 3½ years he went through chemotherapy and operations,” said Ms Hedrick. She stepped back from her busy full time job to care for her son, and in the end, learned from him patience, perseverance, “and great joy and love. Justin’s life showed me that gardens are like a symphony. Each type of plant takes its turn to blossom with amazing color and beauty, and then dies back to be reborn again in the next season. The garden helps me to take life at a different pace,” she said.

She recalls not only her son’s beauty as she gardens, but also the support and love of family and friends who have contributed to the garden, as she redistributes plants in her yard and adds to them.

“I love coming out and weeding, and moving things around. It’s peaceful. I appreciate the beauty,” she said.

Japanese grass is a gift from a friend she made while her son was ill, and the same friend gave her tiny lilac sprouts this past spring. The lambs ear plants are a gift from a woman she cared for when working with Visiting Angels. Blue monarda blossomed vigorously in early summer, and cut back, attempted a comeback in July. That plant, she said, came from an octogenarian friend.

“I can’t even remember all the  plants that were gifts now,” Ms Hedrick said. “My friends and I believe we should never have to buy a plant. We just share.” 

The lone red maple sapling in the front yard is a gift, as well, from the large tree that originally stood near the front walk.

“After we took it down, these little sprouts came up, so we moved one there about four years ago and it is doing fine,” said Ms Hedrick.

“My gardens look to me like Christmas trees decorated with lovely gifts from dear friends and family members,” Ms Hedrick said. “They help me to connect with treasured memories and to look forward to the hope of tomorrow.”

That is what is down the garden path at the home of Cindy and Stephen Hedrick.

For more photos, see the slide show at newtownbee.com.