Being a Gardener: All That Jazz

One nighttime my cooperator put on some Thelonious Monk for dinner euphony . Now I wish dinner party and I care music , but some physique of wind at dinner party jingle-jangle my digestion . The demands of malarkey reap me off from the pleasure of a repast . I have a hard clip “ drown it out . ” I resolve at that moment , “ I do n’t like jazz , ” though I kept that thought to myself .

Not so long after that , at a guest ’s garden party , a guest , loaded with as much gin as I was , would not stop bug me . “ What form of garden is this anyway ? ” he ask . “ I mean , what do you call this style of gardening ? ” I had no reply . I had never really thought about a manner of gardening . My client had requested an English garden . I interpreted his wishes by creating lush and colourful mixed borders in the open woodland localise that let in annual and perennial , shrubs and vines , trees and lightbulb . I used any and every color , advisedly create a at variance effect but then easing it all with a melodious suite of soft and harmonious hues . I actually had no idea what I was doing .

“ English assorted borders ? ” I guessed , unconvincingly .

“ No , ” my snare - drunkenness buddy continued , “ that ’s too unaired . This is not a stuffy garden at all . ”

I keel through the process of making this garden in /my psyche , looking for an answer . I had never actually seen an English garden . I had grabbed from every focus I could , including places where I had been : the Italian countryside , the German naturalistic gardens of Cologne , the lush annual plantings of the Missouri Botanical Garden , even the Sonoran Desert . I was a collagist at heart , a surrealist . But I found no solvent . The node only got more inflamed the vaguer I pay off . If I could n’t supply an answer , he would .

“ nothingness ! ”

manifestly , he had a better handle on the gin than I did . He was suddenly exculpated and confident in his assessment .

“ That ’s it ! It ’s like jazz ! ”

Jazz is not my preferred variety of music , as you now know . It ’s too complex , too advanced , too demanding for my taste . But here was someone I had met for the first time call my fashion of gardening “ jazz ” !

And he was good .

As I looked around with this emphatic watchword “ nothingness ” bumping against the gin in my promontory , I could see the complexity and the smart as a whip mundanity in the border . I could see his spot .

I fuck syncopation . I love setting up a rhythm and breaking it . I know to gratuitous companion , to improvise . It ’s likely why I found so much delight in montage for long time .

It ’s so easy to think of horticulture as a visual art sort . One of the greatest pleasures of garden , of row , is look at them . Yet as I stood with my client ’s friend on that quarter - acre of lawn palisade by those gaga mixed borders , I set about to see , more and more , the musicalness of garden . I ’m not talking about the rustle of leaves in the wind , or songbirds ’ warblings . Gardens take place in clip and bring intently with interpreting time , as does music . I am positive that a garden needs musical rhythm , syncopation , harmoniousness , and even dissonance , good Mr. Monk .

And , yes , that ’s jazz .

I probably like jazz more than hold . After all , I could n’t live without Ella Fitzgerald or Keith Jarrett , Pat Metheny or Betty Carter .

I guess I ’d rather boogie than march — and my garden do the same .

— Daniel Mount indite and garden in Carnation , Washington .

From hunky-dory Gardening # 194

ok Gardening Recommended ware

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Fine Gardening experience a commission for items purchase through links on this site , including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising platform .

Illustration: Conor Kovatch

Get our late gratuity , how - to article , and instructional videos send to your inbox .

signalize you up …

Scaly Liatris Is a Native That Offers Blooms All Summer Long

Jazz Up Your Garden with Annuals You Can Easily Grow from Seed

This Stunning Small Tree Creates a Garden All by Itself

Fire Cider for Health & Well Being

bring together ok Gardening for a free engaging springy webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a notable plant pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals expert coach …

When I spotted a special moxie dollar cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delightful color approach pattern …

When we only prioritize plant we want over works our landscape painting needs , each time of year is filled with a never - ending tilt of chores : pruning , nip , watering , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be measured when you participate the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re potential to trip on something , but because you might be dive - bomb by a pair …