Up From the Flames

Once I had a solar home that sat on a hill overlooking a spring fed pond, a ramnant from the glaciers that covered southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape.  Through summer and winter the sun shined down, warming the hearts and souls of those that lived within.  Tall white pine trees, growing from the sandy soil, spread a blanket of needles on the forest floor.  Little gardening was needed, since nature had provided its own melody:   lush green ferns, delicate Indian pipes, and pink lady slippers.

And then the flames came, destroying all.  The solar home and the tall pines were no more.  As I looked at the barren landscape, I questioned whether to rebuild what we had or whether it was time to start anew.  As a family, we talked late into the evening at the rented cottage.  We spent afternoons at Borders poring over house books and landscapes and then we had the good fortune to have an architect call.  He had seen the articles in the paper about our loss and felt to call us and offer his services.  For money, no ....he offered his services because he knew "our story" and wanted to help.  Together, we told him our plans for what a house should be.  He listened intently and designed a Maine shingled cottage with a large deck facing the pond, a farmer's porch facing the road and a screened-in porch on the side.  After eighteen months of wrangling, first with the insurance company and then with the Conservation Committee, we finally were ready to build.  On January 1, 2004 we moved in to our new home.  The house was beautiful, but the grounds were bleak.  The builder did provide two fire bushes, two hydrangeas, and two firs off the farmer's porch...but that was all.  The hill down to the car park was treacherous with snow and ice.  One could walk out the front door and slide down to the cars.  By Spring, we had mini Grand Canyons in the front yard from all the rain.  Once more, back to Borders we traveled to read about landscaping and perennial gardens.  With the help of a friend, who is a landscape architect, we came up with a plan to terrace the front yard into three sections with curved stone walls.  Once the walls were constructed, I begged, borrowed and bought perennials and small bushes.  I hauled top soil and manure till my body ached.  My hands were always grimey,  my knees a mess.  But I had a vision in my mind of a "New England cottage garden" and I couldn't rest.  Some nights I was out there in the evenings till nine or ten o'clock at night, planting and re-planting.   But all that hard work paid off.  This past summer I was constantly amazed by the "seasons of my garden"...throughout the spring, summer and fall, we had a wealth of colors.  For someone who didn't have a clue about gardening,  it's amazing how beautiful the gardens turned out!