Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Visiting OPG (other people's gardens)

OPG is gardening nirvana in my opinion.  Flowers you'll never grow, varietals you've never seen, all there to be sniffed and ogled and then you get to walk away easily without pulling at the crabgrass bunch or wondering if those few small holes in the leaves of that exotic plant are portentous tidings of an all night leaf feasting orgy.  Those flowers are there, already staked and watered.  They have been dug and redug to find their perfect plot of dirt.  They do not remind you that if you don't deadhead they will not bloom again, and they keep their mouths zippered about previous bouts of pestilence and disease while company is around.  

They are just there for you, in that moment, for that moment.







I love them.  And like all love, you decide you want it all the time.  Every day.  Permanently.   Forever.  Despite indisputable ephemeral perfection, OPG in all its glory has to come live at home.   And hence, now we all have gardens too, don't we?


6 comments:

  1. also OPB (other people's blogs)! perfect blooms, no weeding, summer in january...

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  2. Other people's gardens are good because you get to steal stuff!

    Stealing your own garden bits doesn't give the same buzz!

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  3. If only we could load the OPGs we really like on a truck and make off with them in their entirety :D

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  4. I like to call OPG my "continuing education." If professionals have to [or are privileged to] attend seminars to continue their education why should gardeners be any different? You can learn so much from observing the art and genius of the gardeners and their gardens that we visit. I just think it's sad though when people get all judgmental about a person growing this or that. I might not like orange marigolds but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them in someone else's repertoire. Mostly gardeners are really nice people though, don't you think?

    Love all those 4 o'clocks along the fence.

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  5. ".....portentous tidings of an all night leaf feasting orgy.", I want to steal this line down the road. I can never get enough of OPG! And you are always welcome to stop by anytime and enjoy this OPG.

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  6. I too love visiting OPG, Jess. They are huge inspirations, because we might all be growing many of the same things but we interpret them in very different ways. That's one of the joys of gardening.

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