Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’ (Beardtongue) forms part of the Meditation Circle wall May 25, 2014
Four years ago yesterday I posted my first entry on pbmGarden entitled, “Garden Regeneration.” The first paragraph written then works just as well today.
The garden has been neglected the last few years. Too many frustrations: deer, noisy surroundings, drought, and life’s distractions. Time again to focus on what is important and to create a peaceful setting. (January 7, 2011)
Four years later the garden has been mildly neglected for a few months, but not years. Voles are my current nemesis and instead of drought the rains have been frequent. Though details of that first post are fluid and can easily be swapped one for another, the original intention is still clear to me: Time again to focus on what is important and to create a peaceful setting.
Japanese Iris and Iris germanica (Bearded iris) May 8, 2013
Though I long for it, I no longer think the garden will just one day finally become perfect and stay that way. Even when the irises bloom and the garden is at its best, I know it represents only one point in the nature’s cycle and change is already taking place. But I am reassured the ebb and flow of the days and nights through the seasons will produce more opportunities for me to seize.
Some goals set in January 2011, although met, continue to challenge. The labyrinth is one achievement that brings immense satisfaction.
pbmgarden Labyrinth Design March 2011
Meditation Circle Under Construction April 8, 2011
Garden View with Meditation Circle May 6, 2011
Garden View With Meditation Circle May 10, 2014
While documenting days in pbmGarden over the last four years, what I have known but need to continually relearn is this task of focussing and creating is a process, a long, sometimes arduous journey of personal change and development. The garden is a refuge as I work out this path. My goal of garden regeneration has really become gardener regeneration.
Meanwhile what I had not expected when starting pbmGarden on WordPress was finding such kind and knowledgeable blogging friends who brighten my days with encouragement, advice and humor. For five years prior I had diligently recorded garden observations at another site, without the benefit of knowing those of you who now stop by regularly or peek in occasionally. Once in a while I think my garden would profit from me spending less time blogging and more time gardening, but in reality the support I receive from you actually helps keeps me going.
As I say happy birthday to my little garden blog, I also wish to send a heartfelt thank you for visiting here.
pbmGarden 
Happy anniversary and as one of your readers I’m with you about enjoying the exchange of comments with fellow gardeners. Your garden is beautiful and I came to the same conclusion a while back that it will never be perfect and I’ll never get every weed pulled. So, I stopped trying for perfection so hard and have enjoyed more time working and enjoying it. Here’s to another good year of gardening and blogging for you.
Thank you Judy! I enjoy your blog as well as appreciate your frequent comments here. Work and enjoy–sounds like a good plan.
Susie, Happy Anniversary to you and your blog….and that picture from last May just has me swooning and wishing to spend some time meditating in your gorgeous garden. I have enjoyed my visits here and look forward to your regeneration.
I appreciate your good wishes Donna. May is when I enjoy my garden the most–its days seem to pass more quickly than during other months though.
Happy anniversary, and thank you for reposting this – I missed it first time around. You are right that gardening is just as much about the gardener as the garden, and that’s as it should be. Both the garden and the gardener are living things, and so are always in the process of becoming something else.
Thanks Jason. I appreciate your insights and hope we both keep growing our gardens and ourselves.
Happy blogging anniversary – it’s great to see how the garden has evolved. To me, the most important thing about gardening is the chance to create and then enjoy that creation. I constantly move things around as they outgrow their allotted space, or make a note to weed the bed that I meant to do a month ago (etc, etc). I know my garden will never be manicured perfection, but that is just how I like it 🙂
Matt, I think you have the perfect approach for dealing with a garden–creation and enjoyment. Thanks so much for your visits and comments.
Happy blogging birthday Susie, my mother-in-law gave me a sign which says a garden is a job for life or something similar, but the sentiment was thats its never done and perfect, always evolving and changing. I always look forward to reading your blogs Susie, heres to many, many more!
Thanks for the lovely sentiment Julie. This time of year I find the need to remind myself it’s ok to embrace that evolution and change (and often the unknown and uncontrollable). I appreciate your interest and support and look forward to more of your own blog as well.
Dear Susie, congratulations on your 4th anniversary! I love visiting your garden! A friend, who isn’t a gardener, once asked if I had finished my garden… I wasn’t quite sure what I should answer, but a garden is never finished… That is the joy of it, there is always something new to focus on and ideas for change come and go. And I agree that the actual process of working in the garden is the goal… meditative and pleasurable activity, surrounded by nature and beauty. Happy gardening Susie!
Thanks for the good wishes Cathy! I think I lost my way last year and forgot to just enjoy the garden moment by moment. I just didn’t spend enough time with it, but I do feel more energized this year and take on the actual process of working in it again. I always appreciate your visits!
Susie, Congrats on your fourth anniversary. it is special to see your vision of years ago having taken place so beautifully.
Thanks very much John! I naively thought the meditation circle might take a couple of days but weeks later when I finished it the reward was even stronger. Thanks for your generous and helpful comments.
Such a wonderful touch of summer, and gorgeous summer color on this cold winter day.
Looking down on the garden now, all brown and flat, it is amazing to think it ever could have looked like those pictures. Stay warm Charlie.
Congratulations on your 4th anniversary Susie; like you I started the blog for one reason but then the friendships formed and comments exchanged have become the most important part of it for me. A garden is definitely a process not something that is ever finished. Looking at the aerial shots of the Meditation Circle, have you ever thought that it might integrate better with the surrounding beds if you planted slightly taller plants around the outside, grasses maybe or even a narrow bed of Verbena bonariensis? I think it might really enhance the design.
Those are interesting suggestions Christina. Originally I wanted to put a hedge like boxwood around the circle but the soil is compacted clay, we were having drought conditions and I was losing many shrubs, eventually I abandoned that idea. (The rest of the family didn’t like it anyway.) Thanks–I’ll have to ponder that. I always appreciate your suggestions.
As a relative newcomer to your blog I’m looking forward to seeing how your garden develops this year, especially now I’ve seen the pictures from late Spring.
Happy Anniversary Susie!
Jessica, I appreciate your good wishes and will do my best to spiff up the garden by spring. It is sad looking at present time. I look forward to learning more about your garden as well. Susie
The garden is always changing, isn’t it? I truly wish the garden could have a linear positive progression, but alas…
I enjoyed this look back at your garden. And those purple and white iris — wow!
Happy anniversary! I am glad to have gotten to know you and your garden through your blog.
Thanks for your good wishes. I always appreciate your comments and enjoy following your garden’s changes as well. Iris bloom time is always the best time for my garden. Susie
Congratulations on the birthday of this wonderful blog. The design, creation, and final planting of the meditation surely is the crown jewel in your garden.
Hi Stepheny! Thanks for the good wishes. I am so glad I added the meditation circle. Although I constantly wonder what to do next with it, it has been a good focal point. Are you making garden plans this winter?
Happy anniversary Susie. I’m glad you’re sharing your garden and thoughts and I’m glad I found your blog. All the best for the next year!
Thanks, I appreciate the good wishes Frank. Glad to have found your blog too. While it’s so cold here it’s been a good time to do a bit of reflecting and planning.
Happy belated Birthday to pbmGarden and Congratulations to you Susie. You’re not just creating a beautiful garden but a beautiful blog. I agree with Cathy that a real gardener will never finish his/her garden. There will always be something to be done, to change, to add…a new project. I’ve been looking forward to seeing and reading about your garden since I found your blog.
Beautiful new heading image too!
Pris, you’ve been a constant friend in this blogging world. Thanks for all your comments, advice, support and for just stopping by.
If the garden was ever done you might be bored. I love how dynamic and fluid gardening is. Our gardens evolve as we do and therefore are never finished. Yours is a unique beauty. I’ve never seen a garden with a meditation circle before.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I had never walked a meditation circle until installing mine (now I’ve walked several others), but I somehow locked in on having one. It’s been wonderful for reaching a nice sense of peace in the garden and works as a strong focal point.